Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s “Karn Evil 9” Is Being Turned Into A Sci-Fi Movie
“Karn Evil 9,” the multi-part centerpiece of Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s 1973 prog-rock album Brain Salad Surgery, is being turned into a sci-fi movie. Deadline reports that Radar Pictures has secured the rights to develop “Karn Evil 9″ as a feature film from a screenplay adapted by New York Times bestselling Robopocalypse novelist Daniel H. Wilson. This is how Deadline describes the premise, based off of Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, and Carl Palmer’s original lyrics:
Centered on a society that has drained all its blood with a dependence on technology, the film will explore the world controlled by a pervasive and dictatorial technocracy. The annual “Karn Evil” — a macabre rite of passage — is a young person’s once-in-a-lifetime chance to experience unbridled freedom, before subjugating themselves to the ruling class. When people stop returning from their Karn Evil experience, fear drives a revolution to topple the status quo and the artificial intelligence discovered at its heart.
Michael Napoliello and Maria Frisk are set to produce the film for Radar with full cooperation from ELP and its management; Ted Field will serve as executive producer. “The visionary world that ELP created with their recording ‘Karn Evil 9′ is much closer to reality today,” says Field in a statement. “Our team at Radar looks forward to bringing this vision of where things may be headed to the big screen and beyond.”
This just in… Karn Evil 9 (from ELP's Brain Salad Surgery) is going to be the basis for a new sci-fi movie franchise!https://t.co/rGP5LEFTyr pic.twitter.com/yFlfmp8Em0
— Carl Palmer (@ELP_carl) February 14, 2020