The Weinstein Company has acquired the rights to Timur Bekmambetov‘s (The Darkest Hour) latest project, entitled Apollo 18. The films plot revolves around recently “found footage” shot by the crew of an abandoned moon mission that NASA claims never took place in the early 1970s. The lost footage reveals the existence of alien life and explains why NASA has hidden the evidence for all of these years.

The real Apollo 18 mission would have landed at the moon’s Schroter’s Valley, a riverlike channel-way in February 1972. The mission was one of several of the Apollo program’s missions that were canceled during the 1960s and 1970s, due to budget limitations or schedule constraints.

Deadline reports that Bekmambetov will serve as  producer of the sci-fi thriller that will be directed by Trevor Cawood from a script written by Brian Miller. Bekmambetov presented some film footage to The Weinstein Company that he claimed was really from the Apollo 18 moon mission, which helped sell the project.

Production on the film has already begun and the film has a scheduled release date next March.

Apollo 18 is slated to hit theaters on March 4th, 2011.