Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse was a long standing project for Seth Rogen that he’s always expressed interest in doing, but has never really found the time. It’s eventually morphed into more than just Rogen and friend Jay Baruchel, and now includes a wide cast of actors, as well as simply being titledThe Apocalypse. With it being Rogen’s directorial debut as well, reports have now surfaced that the actor is in negotiations with Sony to finally make the film a reality.

Heatvision is reporting that Rogen is talking with Sony to produce through Mandate Pictures and distribute, with the film’s budget being somewhere between $30-$40 million. Joining Rogen and Baruchel are past co-stars Jonah Hill, James Franco, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson, along with cameos from other celebrities to make it a star-studded affair.

Originally, the project was going to begin shooting next month, but will most likely be pushed back to the Spring. No word yet if re-writes will happen under Sony, but it shouldn’t be too hard seeing how if they nab Rogen up, it’s an all-packaged deal, as Rogen also wrote the film with long-standing partner Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express) aside from starring and directing.

It’s interesting to see that Sony/Mandate give full creative control to Rogen and crew, and to see just what exactly they’ll do with a comedy that initially was described as just a bunch of people sitting in an apartment conversing. Obviously if it’s a $30 million budget, the story will go far beyond that, most likely into Los Angeles, and explore The Apocalypse itself. But, are we talking zombies, rapture, heaven vs. hell? That’ll be one of the more interesting factors to come out of the production.

If you don’t know just where this Apocalypse film came from, here’s the 2007 short film that was a fake teaser initially, but eventually morphed into the project: