Here are some of the most notable script sales from February 2021.
– New Republic Pictures and HungryDuck Productions have picked up Michael Sucsy and Elliott Wheeler’s holiday musical A Lot Like Christmas. Sucsy will also direct.
– Sony Pictures Entertainment and Olive Bridge Entertainment (Will Gluck) will produce Keith Bunin’s family fantasy script Constance. Gluck will also direct.
– Universal Pictures and Working Title Films are moving forward with the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, written by Ted Melfi and based on an idea by Ol Parker and Daniel Pipski. Parker will direct, and George Clooney and Julia Roberts will star.
– Tribeca has picked up Elisabeth Seldes Annacone’s drama Places, Please. Meryl Streep is set to star and produce, and Michael Cristofer will direct.
– Paramount Players, Broken Road Productions, and Good Fear have acquired Brandon Scott Jones’s comedy Senior Year. Rebel Wilson will produce and star.
– Waypoint Entertainment, Innerlight Films, and MAKE GOOD Content have tapped Duke Johnson and Stephen Cooney to adapt Memory, written by Donald E. Westlake. Ryan Gosling will star and produce, and Duke Johnson will direct. Hard Case Crime originally published Westlake’s novel in 2010 though the novel was written in the 1960s and published posthumously.
– Universal Pictures and Apatow Productions will produce an untitled, semi-autobiographical comedy from the Lucas Brothers. Kenny Lucas and Keith Lucas will script alongside Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel and will star in the project as well.
– Big Red Films and McMahon International are moving forward with the Robbie Williams biopic Better Man written by Michael Gracey, Oliver Cole, and Simon Gleeson. Gracey will also direct.
– Meanwhile, Milli Vanilli is getting their own biopic treatment with Millennium Media and RatPac Entertainment with Jeff Nathanson providing the script. Brett Rather is attached to direct.
– A24 and Square Peg will produce writer/director Ari Aster’s next feature Disappointment Blvd. Joaquin Phoenix is attached to star.
– Sony Pictures Entertainment and Tracy Yvonne Productions are moving forward with Dewayne Perkins, Tracy Oliver, and Kevin A. Garnett’s comedy Homecoming based on their original pitch.
– John Ridley will script and direct Shirley, a Shirley Chisholm biopic, for Participant Media and Royal Ties Productions. Regina King will produce and star.
– Rivulet Media will produce writer/director John Patrick Shanley’s comedy The Twinkle Brothers.
– Lionsgate and Burr! Productions have picked up Wine & Crime, a comedy spec written by Beth Behrs, Mark Bartosic, and Cassie Daniels.
– Christopher Landon has been assigned to script the Paranormal Activity reboot for Paramount Players and Blumhouse Productions. Will Eubank will direct.
– Paramount Pictures, Khalabo Ink Society (Kenya Barris), and Lit Entertainment Group acquired Matt Lieberman’s family adventure Yumanzu from a pitch.
– Writers Adam Perlman, Ben Stiller, and Michael Yarvitz will adapt Rachel Maddow’s podcast Bag Man for Focus Features, Red Hour Films (Stiller), and Broadway Video (Lorne Michaels). Stiller will also direct.
– Sctacy Osei-Kuffour will script the upcoming Blade movie for Marvel Studios. Mahershala Ali will star.
– Dirty Films (Cate Blanchett) and New Republic Pictures will produce Queen Bitch and the High Horse, a satirical dramedy written by Eric Matthew Brown. Bert & Bertie will direct.
– Doug Wright will script the Peggy Lee biopic Fever for Marc Platt Productions, Hello Sunshine (Reese Witherspoon), and Killer Films. Michelle Williams will star, and Todd Haynes will direct.
– Marcy Kelly will write an Uno movie for Mattel Films. Untitled Uno Project will be set in the underground hip hop world of Atlanta, and Lil Yachty will produce. Today’s date is not April 1st. This project is real.
– There’s a handful of movies going into pre-production based on the Wall Street Bets subreddit. You know, from that whole Gamestop stock thing. One’s being produced by Brett Ratner and his company RatPac Entertainment, and he acquired the life rights of Jaime Rogozinski, who founded the subreddit. It has no title. The other Wall Street Bets movie has a title: The Antisocial Network. They do not have Jaime Rogozinski’s life rights. It will be based on Ben Mezrich’s book proposal and will be produced by MGM, Ryder Picture Company, and Winklevoss Capital Management (owned by the Winklevoss Twins, whom you might remember from The Social Network). There’s probably also a third—even a fourth!—Wall Street Bets movie in pre-production. Maybe even an SVU episode in development. Who’s to say?
Adaptations currently in development can be found here on Book Pipeline.