Sony picked up Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs’ comedy Move That Body, described as The Hangover meets (Script Pipeline favorite) Weekend at Bernie’s with female leads in a bidding war. Blumhouse and Madhouse have teamed to produce Free Fall. The thriller, written by Sean Finegan and Gregg Maxwell Parker, follows an estranged father and daughter clinging to a mountainside after an accident, making it a literal cliffhanger. 21‘s Allan Loeb sold Collateral Beauty, a drama about a depressed ad exec, with Rooney Mara and Hugh Jackman attached to star. Finally, Peter Scott’s college comedy Parents Weekend is moving forward at Lotus Entertainment.
Other script sales:
– In the worst case of development hell ever. . . . Stanley Kubrik’s Civil War drama The Downslope (originally written in 1956) is finally moving forward with Marc Forster attached to direct.
– Disney brought back Linda Woolverton to pen Maleficent 2.
– Marco Ramirez (Daredevil, Da Vinci’s Demons) will adapt Akira for Warner Bros.
– Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady) will adapt the nonfiction book Ashley’s War for Reese Witherspoon and Fox 2000.
– Anya Kochoff-Romano and Lily Hollander will write the Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve sequel, Mother’s Day. Garry Marshall to direct. Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis, and Julia Roberts to star.
– Fox picked up Jason Micallef’s (Butter) pitch for Shadows, a cryptozoological sci-fi/horror franchise.
– Syriana writer/director Stephen Gaghan to write and direct a Charles Darwin biopic for Disney.