After the surprise success of Taken last year, director Pierre Morel has been trying desperately to make the jump to the world of Hollywood blockbusters — unfortunately thus far his attempts have not really panned out. Earlier this year, he was attached to direct the remake of Dune, but recently Deadline revealed that he had stepped down as director (although he may remain on board as executive producer if the movie still happens). Then there was talk that he was the frontrunner for Universal’s Ouija, a supernatural thriller based on the Parker Brothers occult plaything, but apparently that didn’t work out either. Now it looks like he will be turning his attention to a third possible directing gig: an alien invasion movie being produced by Sam Raimi.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Morel is in talks to direct a movie called EDF for Warner Brothers, which stands for Earth Defense Force. This is a project that was first discovered by Vulture a few months ago, and they described it as “Top Gun with Independence Day and add a pinch of The Last Starfighter.” The movie joins a growing list of alien invasion flicks slated to head into production soon, and it’s being financed by QED International, the same people who co-produced District 9. (Sadly, it is not apparently connected in any way to the video game Earth Defense Force 2017.)

While it’s hard to say what might set this movie apart from all the other alien flicks in the works, I think it’s clear that would actually suit Morel’s talents a little more than either Dune or Ouija. He knows how to direct elaborate action sequences, but story and atmosphere are not necessarily his strong suit. He’s kind of falling in line with the Louis Leterriers of the world in that he seems well-suited to handle big dumb action movies but not much else. Still, with Sam Raimi as a producer, this is definitely a movie I’ll keep an eye on. Are you interested in EDF? What do you think of Pierre Morel as a director?