Summit Entertainment andMandalay Pictures have jointly acquired feature rights to Richard Matheson'sshort story and classic 1963 TwilightZone extended episode Deathship.

Michael Brandt and Derek Haasare co-writing the project - renamed Countdown- based an original draft by Scott Burn and Stephen Gregg.

The story centres on a groupof astronauts on a mysterious planet who are shocked to discover their ownbodies in the wreckage of an exact duplicate of their ship.

Nick Wechsler will producewith Summit and Mandalay, with Brandt and Haas serving as executiveproducers.

Patrick Wachsberger and ErikFeig will oversee the project for Summit and executive vice president Peter Strauss will dothe same for Mandalay.

"As we continue to expandour slate, the focus is on diversity and quality of material," Feig said. "Countdown has both: it is a fresh andunique take on a fantastic 'what if' concept, has great suspense, characters,action and plenty of trailer moments."

"Summit provides artists a friendly environment to developand produce movies," Wechsler added. "Patrick Wachsberger, Erik Feig andAdrienne Biddle have been challenging and insightful intellectual partners aswe've worked to determine the best possible film presentation the puzzle ofthis story offers."

The project was brought inby Biddle. Burn and Gregg are represented by Nine Yard's Steven Crawford andCAA. Brandt and Haas are represented by Andrew Deane at Industry Entertainment,William Morris and Adam Kaller.

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