As the vampire craze slowly starts to dwindle out, everyone is wondering what the next big film making trend will be, and I think I know the answer: aliens. Not so long as a week ago did we hear rumors that the notoriously crappy director Roland Emmerich will be back in the saddle for two more Independence Day flicks, and now, relative newcomer Olivia Thirlby has taken on the leading role in Darkest Hour, an alien invasion movie set in Moscow. Thirlby isn't quite a household name, but her stints in Juno and underground hit The Wackness have been a jumping off point. Darkest Hour could be the role to put her over the top.

Presumably the Russia setting is to not only differentiate it from homegrown alien movies like Independence Day, but also to add an extra element of tension in the form of a language barrier. According to THR Summit will be distributing domestically, and is actually springing to shoot it in Moscow this summers instead of some weak studio backlot.

Big time production designer Chris Gorak will be taking the helm as director for only the second time, but he has an alien background with his work on Steven Spielberg's 2002 alien series Taken, which I suggest all of you check out if you haven't already and don't have some unnatural hatred of Dakota Fanning. Timur Bekmambetov will be on board as one of several producers. Since he's all kinds of Russian himself, his presence should make dealing with the locals easier while filming.

More on this as it comes to us.