A report from AFP, seemingly only picked up by Yahoo! South Africa and noticed by /Film — let's just say the chain of command here isn't exactly airtight. But if it's true, it seems you can take Sylvester Stallone out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of Sylvester Stallone.
Way back in 2009 or so, Stallone was contemplating a sequel to 2008's "Rambo," and among the the potential storylines discussed was a sci-fi-tinged approach featuring John Rambo leading a team of operatives against a genetically-altered beast, a twist loosely based off the James Byron Huggins novel "Hunter." Well, it looks like Sly is just going to go head and adapt that book properly. According to reports, he's in talks with Lionsgate to write, direct and star in a 3D adaptation of the novel. And even though "Rambo 5" rumors still persist — with the latest idea to have the character get killed off — if this story is true, this one is likely to go first, with a 2014 release being eyed. Here's the full synopsis of the book:
Nathaniel Hunter could track anyone — or anything — on earth. Now the military desperately needs him for a mission that his ultrasensitive instincts tell him he should refuse. A beast is loose somewhere north of the Arctic Circle. It has already decimated a secret research facility and annihilated a squad of elite military guards. And the raging creature is headed south toward civilization, ready to wreak bloody devastation.
It's a job that Hunter can't turn down, but he soon discovers that his prey is terror incarnate, a half-human abomination created by a renegade agency through a series of outlawed genetic experiments. It has man's cunning, a predator's savageness, and a prehistoric power that has transcended the ages. And even if Hunter survives its unrelenting hunger for human blood, he'll still have to confront the grim reality that it may have grown immortal.
This sort of sounds like a zillion bad movies we've seen before — it also kind of sounds like "Predator" or "The Thing" — but it's easy to see why a studio would be interested. It seems like a mid-budget genre flick that will be easy, breezy sell. But whether or not this actually happens, we'll just have to wait and see.