Initially announced last August…

Djimon Hounsou joined the cast of Alex Proyas' adaptation of John Milton's epic good-versus-evil poem Paradise Lost.

At the time, already attached to the project were Bradley Cooper (who seems to be almost everywhere these days) as Lucifer, and Ben Walker as Michael.

The central story revolves around the epic war between archangels Lucifer (Cooper) and Michael (Walker), and Adam and Eve's eventual fall from grace, destroying Paradise after Lucifer takes the form of a serpent, tricking Eve into eating from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge.

Hounsou was to play Abdiel, the Angel of Death.

It was announced earlier today that the project, which was being developed as an action movie, likely in a similar style as 300, is officially no more, because Legendary Pictures balked at the $120 million budget.

Hard economic times these days… money is tight and profits aren't as easy to come by as they once were.

No matter for Hounsou I suppose because in the Milton tome, the character Abdiel is a relatively minor one; though he originally sides with Lucifer's rebellion in Heaven before Satan's banishment, he eventually stands up to and denounces Satan (choosing to remain faithful to God), after the archangel incites revolt among the other angels.

On to the next one… maybe another studio will save it… maybe not.