Looks like we have the latest trend of turning movies and shows into stage plays headed our way. We've already got Stranger Things looking to extend its pop cultural footprint beyond TV screens, and Paranormal Activity is also being turned into a stage show. You can add Minority Report to the list.
Minority Report, loosely adapted for the screen from Philip K. Dick's 1956 novella The Minority Report and directed by Steven Spielberg, the 2002 movie sees Tom Cruise as Chief John Anderton, part of a special police unit is able to arrest murderers before they commit their crimes, an officer from that unit is himself accused of a future murder.
They derive their information from "pre-cogs," people born with special pre-cognitive abilities (Samantha Morton plays the main pre-cog), but Anderton soon discovers that something is very wrong with the system.
While Paranormal Activity, with its found footage angle, sounds enough of a challenge to convert for the stage, Minority Report in movie form boasts complicated special effects and lots of action. From the sounds of it, producer Simon Friend (who is also working on the Paranormal show), writer David Haigh and director Max Webster are scaling things down for the theatrical version.
Here's the synopsis: "In 2050, neuroscientist Dame Julia Anderton is about to launch the next phase of her pioneering Pre-Crime programme, detaining people for crimes before they are committed. But when Julia is accused of pre-murder, she’s in a race against time to save herself from her own system."
Unlike the other shows, Minority Report will be opening outside of London, kicking off in Nottingham at the Playhouse, where it plays from 16 Feb – 9 March 2024. It then tours to the Birmingham Repertory Theatre (22 March – 6 April 2023) before concluding its run at London’s Lyric Hammersmith from 19 April – 18 May.
"I’m delighted to announce the world premiere stage version of Minority Report, based on Philip K. Dick’s short story, adapted by David Haig," says Friend. "We commissioned this project several years ago, but with its prescient central theme of personal technological surveillance, it has only become more alarmingly relevant to the world in which we live, despite the original story having been written in 1956."
Altogether now: "muuuuuurder!"