What will surely be a pioneer in the coming (well, maybe coming) wave of cinematic board game adaptations, Battleship, is currently rolling cameras in New Orleans. An article from the Associated Press, via NOLA.com, details the action on the set of the $70 million dollar movie (extras running from explosions and such), which will wrap mid-December after a shoot split between Hawaii and Louisiana.

What’s interesting is that while Battleship stands a chance at playing X-Men for the new decade, and breaking the wave of films based off of story-less toy properties, it’s May 2012 release will likely position it smack in the middle of the new wave of alien invasion flicks. Then again, if the next year doesn’t go well for those kinds of films, maybe it will end up smack dab at the end of said wave.

Either way, the AP got their own version of the synopsis, if you’re not up-to-date on how they’re taking plastic pegs and making them epic, which reads as such-

“The movie is based on the classic Milton Bradley warship guessing game, except in this version naval forces are uniting to fight an alien attack. In the movie, an alien space craft enters Earth’s atmosphere and breaks into pieces making impacts across the globe.”

CHUD was there when Peter Berg called an emergency set visit to get the word out about his alien attack film that centered on the Navy, and will feature Rihanna, Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, and Liam Neeson. That was almost a year ago exactly, while I was on the set of what will coincidentally be another large-scale alien invasion flick, Battle: Los Angeles.

Take a look at the article if you’re interested on the local perspective of a big Hollywood production coming town, in a place where it is still a novel and fun event. There’s no doubt NOLA is doing well from the new jobs and infusion of cash into the local economy, and they keep racking up the big ones as Breaking Dawn is also shooting there, and even the new Batman film is rumored to be eyeing the town (though it is not confirmed, contrary to popular belief). In fact, I’m of the understanding that certain romantic scenes of the Break Dawn shoot have been interrupted by blasts from the Battleship set!

May 18th, 2012 will be the day you can break out your Battleship board game to pass the time in line for your Battleship screening.

Thanks to badass, Casey Moore.