Luc Besson is still doing action and sci-fi, but now in 3-D | Movie News

Filmmaker Luc Besson already blended action and sci-fi with his wonderfully garish epic THE FIFTH ELEMENT, but now he wants it with an extra dimension.

Besson and EuropaCorp are producing SECTION 8, which takes place in "a prison orbiting 50 miles above the earth. The prison houses 500 of the world's most dangerous prisoners, who are kept asleep by sophisticated techniques until they suddenly awaken."

Irish duo Stephen St. Leger and James Mather will direct, and wrote the script with Besson (who seems to crank out a new screenplay every weekend). Considering Besson's expertise with violent characters and wild sci-fi concepts, what they come up with should be a blast. The project will be presented in 3D and run about $30 million.

EuropaCorp is also working on BRICK MANSION, an English-language remake of Besson's DISTRICT 13 (aka BANLIEUE 13), the debut of TAKEN director Pierre Morel. Although unless they can find Americans with the phsyical abilities of original stars David Belle and Cyril Raffaelli, it doesn't seem like they should bother trying.

Oh, and if you're wondering why the SECTION 8 team (also known as Saint and Mather) is qualified for the job, check out their short film PREY ALONE, made for a few thousand bucks using mostly greenscreen and CGI:

Extra Tidbit: I have no idea why, but this picture came up on a Google image search for "space prison".