The Cabin in the Woods director Drew Goddard is in negotiations to write and direct The Martian adaptation for 20th Century Fox.

The project is based off a 2012 e-book by author Andy Weir, which centers on an astronaut who becomes stranded on Mars, and must find some way to make it back to Earth. The story is said to be a cross between Apollo 13 and Cast Away. Insiders also claim that the story is much different from Gravity, director Alfonso Cuarón's upcoming thriller starring Sandra Bullock as an astronaut lost in space.

Simon Kinberg is producing through his Genre Films company, alongside Aditya Sood. No production schedule was given.

Drew Goddard also wrote the screenplay for Steven Spielberg's Robopocalypse, which was put on indefinite hold back in January. His other writing credits include Cloverfield, and episodes of hit TV shows such as Lost, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Alias.