Tom Cruise is looking to return to sci-fi action genre in a big way over the next couple of years. After signing on to star in Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion back in May, he has now also reportedly been cast in Doug Liman’s All You Need is Kill, a movie based on the novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Described as “Groundhog Day meets Starship Troopers,” the book revolves around a soldier who dies fighting a war against aliens and finds himself caught in a time loop where he is forced to relive his final day over and over again. Warner Brothers had been in search of a big name to anchor the film since they reportedly paid $3 million for the script last year. Although the story calls for a younger actor (the studio originally wanted Ryan Gosling or Joseph Gordon-Levitt for the lead) it has since been rewritten to suit Cruise’s age. Dante Harper (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters) wrote the original script with Joby Harold (Awake) doing the updated draft.

Although Cruise was reportedly hesitant about shooting two sci-fi flicks back to back, Doug Liman insisted that this would be very different from Oblivion. Either way, I think this is a good move for Cruise since science-fiction seems to be one genre where he is not actively being shunned by moviegoers. As we found out in our poll last month, Minority Report remains one of his most popular movies.

The title of the movie was at one point going to be changed to We Mortals Are, but fortunately someone seems to have thought better of it. I’m intrigued by the premise, which definitely has echoes of Source Code in it, but I’m also interested to see Liman tackle a sci-fi project that isn’t Jumper. The movie is expected to go before cameras in late 2012 with a possible 2013 release in mind. Are you psyched for All You Need is Kill? Check out a sweet vid of Tom Cruise getting down to “Old Time Rock and Roll” below.