Ang Lee’s 3D vision of Life of Pi put on hold

Another director and yet another set back for THE LIFE OF PI. The adaptation of the Yann Martel bestseller has been in the works for eight years now but I was optimistic that the film would finally get made when earlier this year news broke that Ang Lee had signed to direct a 3D version of the film for Fox. But Lee can now join a group of filmmakers like M. Night Shyamalan and Alfonso Cuaron who were unable to get the film off the ground.

As it turns out, Fox felt that Lee’s vision for PI was a little expensive for their tastes (the budget was reportedly estimated at $70 million). I’m not sure what Fox thought a movie filled with CG animals shot in 3D would cost but $70 million sounds just about right to me. I mean the movie takes place on a raft with one boy and a veritable menagerie of wild animals. Sounds expensive right off the bat, no?

The good news though is that the film isn’t completely dead. The responsibility now falls back on Lee and his producers to try and find a way to cut the budget down. The question is whether Lee is interested in doing that. In the meanwhile though, Fox is putting the film on hold.

Fox has never been one to take huge risks on their films (AVATAR aside) so it’ll have to make fiscal sense before it makes creative sense. Whether that will ever happen remains to be seen.