Project postponements have freed up actor Tom Cruise and director Steven Spielberg to team up again in the re-make of H.G. Well’s THE WAR OF THE WORLDS for a fast track investment for DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures.

Cruise had been set to work on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 until a delay while Spielberg’s untitled project on the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics has also been pushed back. Cruise and Spielberg collaborated successfully on MINORITY REPORT.

WAR OF THE WORLDS remake is scripted by David Koepp (JURASSIC PARK, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE), featuring loads of visual effects for an estimated budget of more than $100 million according to DAILY VARIETY. The film will rush through pre-production to shoot in November for a 2005 release. Kathleen Kennedy and Paula Wagner are signed as producers.