Channing Tatum To Space Out With ‘Ion’

First Published: June 25, 2010 3:49 PM EDT Credit: Getty Images

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Channing Tatum attends the gala screening of ‘Dear John’ at the Odeon High Street Kensington, London, March 30, 2010 Channing Tatum will star in FOX’s latest sci-fi epic – “Ion,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The trade mag reported that Channing has signed on for the film, which is being described as a “sci-fi romantic epic” and is already being touted as the next “Avatar.”

The spec script, penned by Brit-turned-Angeleno Will Dunn, reportedly picked up steam after the multi-billion-dollar success of the James Cameron blockbuster, eventually finding a home at FOX 2000.

Channing knows a thing or two about romance (“Dear John”) and CGI-filled shoot ‘em ups (“G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”), but the busy star will show his chops in several more films before “Ion” launches.

He’ll appear in 2011’s “The Eagle of The Ninth” – which will find him as a young Roman in 140 A.D., rather than a sci-fi future. Channing has also wrapped “Son of No One,” with Al Pacino and Katie Holmes, and the thriller “Haywire.”

Copyright 2013 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.