Break out your little eyeball baggies because you’re definitely going to want to see this. According to TheWrap, Steven Spielberg is developing a television series based on his 2002 Tom Cruise-starring sci-fi flick Minority Report, and has tapped Godzilla writer Max Borenstein to write it. In spite of Comedy Central’s forthcoming series The Minority Report with Larry Wilmore, the series is expected to retain its namesake and will likely follow a similar path as the Spielberg-produced Extant, meaning that he will seek to attach a name actor to anchor the series (e.g. Halle Berry in Extant).

As you may recall, the film, which was based on a Philip K. Dick story, told the story of future cop John Anderton (Tom Cruise), an operative in the “PreCrime” division of law enforcement that aimed to stop crimes before they could happen. How did they do it? By using clairvoyant “PreCogs” to predict exactly when and where potential perpetrators would commit the events. Anderton discovers a flaw in the system when his own name is predicted as the man behind a looming murder, and must race against time to clear his name and save the day. Anchored by a cast including Max von Sydow, Colin Farrell, and Samantha Morton, it was critically acclaimed and grossed over $358 million worldwide at the box office.

Minority Report is just the latest in a string of high profile film-to-television adaptations that seem to be dominating development slates as of late. Hannibal and Fargo have shown us that, through the lens of television, filmmakers can plumb heretofore unseen depths of the weird, wacky filmic universes that we fell in love with in the first place. With Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment behind it, I am definitely intrigued by the prospect of a serialized Minority Report series, but I’m hoping that Max Borenstein can handle the complex human interactions required to make this series work better than he did with Godzilla. Though the monster-on-monster action was a spectacular sight to behold, much of the supporting cast felt wasted and didn’t really add much to the narrative. Still, unlike the PreCogs, I don’t know how this will play out, so rather than judge it unfairly before it’s had a fair shake, the only thing I’ll be guilty of is cautious optimism.

This announcement begs a whole mess of questions: who will star? Who will direct? Why isn’t there a sub-genre of sci-fi films and series called “Dick flicks”? As with everything in development, only time will tell.

Are you looking forward to a Minority Report TV series? Who would you cast in the lead role(s)? Let us know in the comments below or tell me on Twitter.

[HT: TheWrap]