Variety is reporting that New Regency has acquired rights to The End of Eternity by the late Isaac Asimov, via Vince Gerardis of Created By. The novel was first published in 1955, and though it is currently out of print, Variety notes that it “has fascinated filmmakers for some time. The book was most recently set at Paramount with Ridley Scott and Tom Cruise but the project never got off the ground.”
Before hiring a writer, New Regency will go looking for a director. Gerardis will produce the film, with Eli Kirschner serving as executive producer.
Variety describes the novel thus: “a futuristic tale in which humanity is controlled by a ruling class called Eternity, members of which can manipulate time to alter history and prevent disasters or wipe out undesirables. One of the time cops flirts with disaster when he breaks the cardinal Eternity rule and falls in love with a woman from another time period.” Wikipedia has a much more in-depth plot summary in this entry, which notes that the novel has been translated into at least 17 different languages, ranging from German (1958) to Spanish (2004).
Asimov, who died in 1992, published his first stories in 1939, at the age of 19. In 1966, he won a special Hugo Award for Best All-Time Series for the Foundation series, and he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Wrtiers of America in 1987.
New Regency’s recent movies include Mirrors, Meet Dave, and Jumper.