2012: It's the end of the world as we know it

The Mayan calendar reportedly predicts the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012.

There's all kinds of theories about what will actually happen that day, many of which make great fodder for Hollywood blockbusters.

"Transformers" director Michael Bay has that angle covered, with the help of screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Darkhorizons.com reports the two are working on Bay's next movie, "2012: The War For Souls."

Orci and Kurtzman also wrote "Transformers" and 2005's "The Island." They are basing their screenplay on a forthcoming novel of the same name by Whitley Strieber. Strieber is a sci-fi and horror author who famously claimed to have been abducted by alien beings in 1985.

Warner Bros. has high hopes for the film, which it hopes to develop into a tentpole franchise. It's slated for a 2010 release.

So, what's really in store for the planet Earth in five years?

According to the ever-trusty Wikipedia:

• An asteroid which is the second-largest Near Earth Object on record will come within 17 million miles of us.

• The sun will reach the end of its 11-year sunspot cycle and reverse its magnetic poles.

• Charles Manson will be eligible for parole.

I don't know about you, but I'm buying a tin-foil hat just in case.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)