Author Daniel H. Wilson’s New York Times best-selling book ‘Robopocalypse’ now has a release date for director Steven Spielberg’s movie adaption, according to Deadline.

The big budget apocalyptic robot uprising adaptation will be financed by both DreamWorks and Fox. It is set to open in the U.S. on Wednesday, July 3, 2013 so it might be time to lock up your toasters on Independence Day. Disney will distribute domestically while Fox will handle the film internationally.

Despite the silly fifties-style matinee title, ‘Robopocalypse’ is well-reviewed and credible sources have evoked comparisons to names such as Michael Crichton and Robert Heinlein. Veteran science fiction writer Drew Goddard is writing the script for Spielberg to direct. Goddard’s resume includes such sci-fi favorites as ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, ‘Angel’, ‘Lost’, ‘Alias’, and ‘Cloverfield’.

About the book:
“In the near future, at a moment no one will notice, all the dazzling technology that runs our world will unite and turn against us. Taking on the persona of a shy human boy, a childlike but massively powerful artificial intelligence known as Archos comes online and assumes control over the global network of machines that regulate everything from transportation to utilities, defense and communication. In the months leading up to this, sporadic glitches are noticed by a handful of unconnected humans – a single mother disconcerted by her daughter’s menacing “smart” toys, a lonely Japanese bachelor who is victimized by his domestic robot companion, an isolated U.S. soldier who witnesses a ‘pacification unit’ go haywire – but most are unaware of the growing rebellion until it is too late.

When the Robot War ignites — at a moment known later as Zero Hour — humankind will be both decimated and, possibly for the first time in history, united.”