Although box office prognosticators indicate that John Carter won’t be paying off for Disney, its very release date sees the company go deeper into the realm of outer space. According to THR, they’ve hired writer Max Borenstein (The Seventh Son, Gareth Edwards‘ Godzilla) to pen Paladin, a project only described as “a big [original] sci-fi adventure movie.” Justin Springer is producing with Secret Machine — and that’s all we know. Speculate away!

If those bare-bones details leave you wanting more, Deadline reports that Sony and Benderspink have acquired Greg Bishop and Joe Ballarini‘s spec script Lockdown at Franklin High. A “dark and visceral roller coaster of intense fear and emotion,” the spec follows “a straight edge teen girl and her rebellious, socially outcast brother as they try to escape from their prison-like high school which has been locked down and plunged into anarchy and pandemonium due to the attacks of a ravenous, supernatural monster.” Boy, that one’s hitting close to home for my town.

Platinum Dunes are also considering the project right now, while Sony is trying to land a director and get this before cameras in the very near future. (You still need a complete script, a cast, and so on to be ready — well, most of the time with major studios — but those departments could also be getting themselves together as we speak. You never know!) As always, we’ll fill you in when news of that sort becomes available.

Are you up for more space adventure, or would you prefer to see kids get terrified?