Amblin Partners and Neal Street Productions have picked up Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns’ spec 1917. Mendes will direct the WWI drama and co-produce with Pippa Harris. Platinum Dunes and Tyler Perry Studios are bringing Ryan Belenzon and Jeffrey Gelber’s spec I Am Yours to Paramount. The project is described as thriller in the vein of Fatal Attraction. Writer Emilia Serrano had two of her comedy specs optioned: The Throwdown and an untitled quinceañera project. The Throwdown follows two Latina American cousins as they fight over a family restaurant they inherited and found a home with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. Meanwhile, her quinceañera project follows a 30-year-old woman who brings her family on a work trip disguised as a “double quinceañera” because she missed her first and found a home with 26 Keys Productions and Pascal Pictures. Noah Hawley and Amy Pascal will produce. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot preemptively picked up Jared Moshe’s spec Aporia, a “grounded sci-fi drama with time-travel elements.” Moshe will direct. Finally, Fangoria Films, Aperture Entertainment, and Cinestate are teaming up for Satanic Panic, a dark comedy spec written by Grady Hendrix. The story follows a pizza delivery girl whose last delivery of the night turns out to be Satanists in need of a virgin sacrifice.
Other spec sales:
– Paul Feig is directing a script written by Emma Thompson! It’s called Last Christmas, it’s a romance set in London, and we couldn’t be more excited. (She’s a double Oscar winner, after all. For writing and acting!) Universal and Calamity Films are producing.
– Shana Feste to write/direct Run Sweetheart Run for Blumhouse. The horror script follows a blind date gone terribly wrong.
– Jason Orley’s 2014 Black List script Big Time Adolescence has found a home with production companies American High and Lost City. Orley will direct.
– David Ayer to write/direct the crime thriller Tax Collector for Cedar Park Entertainment and Cross Creek Pictures. Shia LaBeouf and Bobby Soto to star.
– Joe Nussbaum’s Parent’s Night has landed at Screen Gems. The story follows parents who throw a massive house party when the kids are away on a school trip. It’s apparently based on an actual annual ritual.
– Zemeckis is directing an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s The Witches! He’ll co-write with Jack Rapke and co-produce with Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro.