I just heard about this a few minutes ago:  Roland Emmerich will be directing the film adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation series.  Emmerich directed hits like Independence Day and Stargate along with bombs like 10,000 BC. IMDB says he's also in pre-production on a remake of Fantastic Voyage.

A quick google search shows that this pairing is not particularly optimal in many peoples eyes.  I certainly have doubts that a blow-em-up kind of director can give meaning to a cerebral story like this.  No one's done it yet for dune (1984, 2000), though it looks like Peter Berg (hancock, The Kingdom) is going to give it another try in 2010, and Foundation may be even harder to get right.

We'll just have to wait and see.