The film was deep into pre-production with the production set to start filming in a couple months with the lead roles already cast with Chris Hemsworth & Anne Hathaway set to star in the film with Steven Spielberg at the helm as the director. The project came to a sudden halt during pre-production & was officially delayed as Spielberg decided the script needed to be more polished & re-writes had to be done.
DreamWorks purchased the film rights of the novel before the publication was completely finished and set for release.