Steven Spielberg has long been attached to direct Robopocalypse, an adaptation of a science fiction novel that details mankind's struggles against an apocalyptic robot uprising. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Spielberg has now indefinitely postponed the project, with spokesperson Martin Levy citing script issues along with the fact that the film would simply be "too expensive to produce." The development team is now going "back to the drawing board" to try and salvage the movie, which was slated for a 2014 release.

The director committed to the project in 2010, saying that it would be his next movie after Tintin and War Horse. Production of the movie was originally supposed to begin in January 2012, but Spielberg instead turned his attention to Lincoln. The news comes as a bit of a surprise considering that Chris Hemsworth and Anne Hathaway had been cast as recently as November 2012. At the end of the day, though, there’s no point shooting a high budget movie that has fundamental script problems.

Update: Spielberg has echoed comments made yesterday by his spokesperson, telling Entertainment Weekly that the project "was costing a lot of money." The director goes on to say that he "found a better way to tell the story more economically but also much more personally." Spielberg confirms that the script is being rewritten, and that shooting of the movie could start in the next six to eight months.