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"Panic Attack" was put together by a commercial director and FX specialist Fede Alvarez. The short shows Earth being ruthlessly attacked by giant robots that came out of the fog.
Now comes word that Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) was so impressed with Alvarez's "Panic" that he decided to sign him to develop a new sci-fi film. "There will be robots," confirmed Alvarez, adding that the movie will have a budget between $30 and $40 million.
Apparently Alvarez was offered more money, but Raimi wanted to make sure that the helmer had enough freedom to develop the project his way, knowing that more cash meant less control.
Raimi bringing on an unknown director to helm a sci-fi story for around $30 million is exactly what Peter Jackson did when he hired Neill Blompkamp, also a commercial director, to make the $30 million "District 9" that went on to gross almost $200 million worldwide.