The Monument 14 Movie Still Needs To Happen
When it comes to Hollywood, the end of the world is still pretty big business. And if you can combine post-apocalyptic mayhem with a pre-existing young adult book? Well, that’s the sort of thing that’s the sort of thing that gets Hollywood execs foaming at the mouth.
That combo of teen drama and Armageddon blues is at the heart of Monument 14, a film project that was once described as “The Breakfast Club set after the apocalypse.”
Monument 14 is based on the young adult novel of the same name, by Emmy Laybourne. It was published in 2012 and is the first of a trilogy. The basic premise of the first book is that a group of 14 teens are trapped in a superstore while the rest of the world crumbles to hell around them outside.
In Monument 14, monster hailstorms, chemical weapons spills, volcanic eruptions, and many more calamities occur while the group of teens builds something of a refuge inside the chain store. So we get the angst of hormones and teens-being-teens juxtaposed against the worst possible events happening all around them.
And the original Monument 14 story is insular and condensed, spanning just 12 days (one per chapter) in the lives of these kids. It starts with a bang, their school bus crashes right through the front of the store and hurling them into chaos.
Back in 203, it was announced that director Brad Peyton would helm the Monument 14 movie adaptation, though there wasn’t a writer attached to pen it at the time. Peyton had directed Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and would go on to helm San Andreas (2015) and Rampage (2018). So, he clearly has an affinity for worlds where everything has gone off the rails.
Peyton told Deadline at the time about Monument 14, “As soon as I read the first chapter, I knew I wanted to do this movie. It’s such a great concept and the kids felt real to me. The whole experience of living through the end of the world is an exciting one to try to capture on film, especially from such an original perspective.”
“Breakfast Club after the Apocalypse” is the sort of shorthand that Hollywood loves, but there’s a reason John Hughes’ Breakfast Club is a classic movie, and its countless other imitators generally aren’t. But since these initial reports, all has gone quiet on the Monument 14 front.
After the first Monument 14 book, there were two more, Sky on Fire and Savage Drift. So there’s a chance at a franchise if the first movie can land in any way.
In general, this core story, the teenage element, the insular location, and a few other factors align for what could be a very cool movie. We’ll see if it ever happens with Monument 14.
