Gerard Butler has signed on to star as the lead in ‘Geostorm’ the new sci-fi disaster flick from Warner Brothers, directed and co-written and co-produced by Dean Devlin, who alongside former writing/producing partner spearheaded the classics ‘Stargate’ and ‘Independence Day‘ (and the not-so-classic ‘Godzilla’).  In recent years, the pair have stepped away from big screen sci-fi epics and have shepherded the long-running TV series ‘Leverage’.  But Devlin is once more stepping into the realm of sci-fi disaster flicks with ‘Geostorm’.

So far Butler is the only actor signed and his character’s name hasn’t even been revealed.  The film appears to be in the very earliest stages of development as only this very basic description of Butler’s role has been released:

“…a stubborn but charming satellite designer who, when the world’s climate-controlling satellites malfunction, has to work together with his estranged brother to save the world from a man-made storm of epic proportions. A trip into space follows, while on Earth a plot to assassinate the president begins to unfold.”

Oh.

My.

Is this a Syfy original movie?  That sounds like a hot mess!  I expect the script will be maybe five pages long and that the explosion to plot ratio to be about 100:1.  Then again, they’ve got about three plots already present in this description alone.

But on a positive note, Devlin made his name on the smash larger than life disaster flick ‘Independence Day’ and Butler is a proven actor/tough guy with genre appeal. Butler’s ‘Olympus Has Fallen’ trounced Magic Mike Channing Tatum and Jaime Foxx’s similarly-themed ‘White House Down’.  And if the ‘Transformers‘ movies can mint money they way they do, this movie certainly has a chance.

Obviously, this movie is very early into development and any number of things could change, including either Devlin or Butler’s involvement.  At any rate, it will surely be years before this movie makes it onto the silver screen… if it makes it at all.

Are you looking forward to Devlin’s return to the sci-fi catastrophe genre?