Script Sales

Hollywood is starting to feel the affects of Crazy Rich Asians’ amazing box-office performance, and several projects with Asian-American or Polynesian leads were picked up in the second half of August. (It’s long overdue, but hey, we’ll take it.) Seven Bucks Entertainment, Flynn Picture Company, ImageMovers are teaming to produce The King, with New Line Cinema distributing. Written by Randall Wallace, the spec is a biopic of King Kamehameha, who was the first to unite the Hawaiian Islands. Dwayne Johnson is set to star, Robert Zemeckis to direct, and both will produce. New Line also picked up Singles Day, a romantic comedy spec written by Lillian Yu. The plot is mostly under wraps, but it’s based on a Chinese holiday described as the anti–Valentine’s Day in which singles celebrate being unattached. And finally, Elyse Hollander’s untitled music spec found a home at Fox 2000. The story follows an Asian American college student who becomes a top competitor on a South Korean k-pop competition show.

Other script sales:

– And of course, Crazy Rich Asians is getting its sequel. Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim are returning to adapt Kevin Kwan’s novel, and Jon M. Chu is returning to direct. (And you’ve seen Crazy Rich Asians, right? If not, you should really get on that.)

– Jon Silberman and Josh Silberman have been tapped to write Coyote Vs. Acme for Warner Bros. Animation. It will be centered on the perpetually ill-fated Wile E. Coyote. Chris McKay (The LEGO Movie) will produce.

– Natalie Portman is set to star in and direct an untitled script written by Katie Robbins. The true story follows dueling sisters Esther Friedman and Pauline Friedman, who are perhaps best known as Ann Landers and Dear Abby.

– Elevation Pictures picked up the horror script Random Acts of Violence, adapted by Jay Baruchel and Jesse Chabot from Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray’s graphic novel. Baruchel is set to direct.

– Central Films and Ross Katz Productions are teaming up for writer-director Oliver Stone’s drama White Lies. Benicio del Toro will star.

– Oren Uziel will script Supergirl for Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment.

July was a slower month for script sales. David M. Crabtree’s script Plane has found a home at Mandalay Pictures. The thriller follows a traveling salesman who is trapped alone in a small airborne plane after the pilot dies. John Moore (Behind Enemy Lines, A Good Day to Die Hard) is set to direct. Twentieth Century Fox is moving forward with the comedy Stoned Alone, an adult version of Home Alone that follows a stoner who misses his flight and must deal with thieves inside his home. Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider are on the script, based off an idea from Fox’s Matt Reilly. Ryan Reynolds will produce, and Augustine Frizzell will direct. Screen Gems and Brownstone Productions have picked up Savion Einstein’s comedy Superfecundation, which is a rare situation that occurs when twins have two different fathers. Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman will produce. Makeready, Hillman Grad Productions, and De La Revolución Films will produce Lena Waithe’s crime thriller Queen & Slim. Based on an idea by James Frey, with a story by Waithe, Andrew Coles, Michelle Knudsen and Frey, the story follows a black couple on a first date who kill a police officer in self-defense and have to flee to Cuba. Melina Matsoukas will direct, and Daniel Kaluuya will star.

Other script sales:

– Erin Cressida Wilson has been tapped to write the Indecent Proposal adaptation/remake for Paramount. The 1993 film was written by Amy Holden Jones and based on the novel by Jack Engelhard.

– Patrick Ness will write a Rumpelstiltskin movie for Sony. Peter Dinklage is set to star and produce.

– Disney has picked up Ola Shokunbi and Lindsey Reed Palmer’s pitch Sadé. The film will follow a young African girl named Sadé who accepts her newly discovered magical warrior powers to protect herself and her people, and Rick Famuyiwa (Dope) will produce.

– Liz Hannah and Jennifer Niven are adapting Niven’s YA novel All the Bright Places for The Mazur/Kaplan Company and Echo Lake Productions. Brett Haley will direct, and Justice Smith and Elle Fanning are set to star.

– Michael Younesi to write/direct the family adventure MakerForce 5 for Studio71.  The story follows five kids who band together to fight off a mysterious invasion that happens after all of their town’s parents suddenly disappear.

–  Focus Features and Carnival Films & Television are teaming for the Downton Abbey movie, to be written by series creator Julian Fellows and directed by Brian Percival.

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.

Tom O’Connor’s Cold War spy spec Ironbark has found a home with FilmNation Entertainment. The true story follows Greville Wynne, a British businessman, as he helps the CIA end the Cuban Missile Crisis and avert disaster. Benedict Cumberbatch is set to executive produce and star. Another historical spec landed at Gran Via Productions. This one: Alex Cramer’s Rawhide Down. The screenplay follows the immediate aftermath of John Hinkley’s assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in real time. Paramount Pictures picked up Cory Goodman’s horror spec The Oberline Incident. The plot is being kept under wraps, but it’s been described as high-concept with a female lead. Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures has picked up Crawl, written by Alexandre Aja, Shawn Rasmussen, and Michael Rasmussen. The story follows a young woman trapped in a flooding house with fierce predators during a Category 5 hurricane. Aja will also direct.

Other script sales:

– Dueling Leonard Bernstein projects are a go. First up is Michael Mitnick’s adaption of Leonard Bernstein’s biography written by Humphrey Burton. Cary Fukunaga to direct, Jake Gyllenhaal to star. Next up is Josh Singer’s script Bernstein. Bradley Cooper, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese will produce, Cooper will direct and star. Life rights were acquired for this one.

– Bill and Ted are finally getting a sequel. Excellent! Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon are back to write, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are back to star, and Dean Parisot is set to direct. Party on, dudes.

– J.J. Abrams and his company Bad Robot picked up Daniel Casey’s subversive superhero script The Heavy. Julius Avery will direct.

– Guy Ritchie to direct Toff Guys from a script he co-wrote with Marn Davies and Ivan Atkinson. The story follows an English drug lord as he tries to sell his business to Oklahoman billionaires.

– Gabriel Sherman is writing a Trump movie for Gidden Media. It’ll be called The Apprentice.

– Nicol Paone’s Friendsgiving has not only found a home at Red Hour Films but has also found an amazing cast: Malin Akerman, Kat Dennings, Jane Seymour, Aisha Tyler, Deon Cole, Ryan Hansen, Chelsea Peretti, Christine Taylor, Wanda Sykes and Margaret Cho are set to star. Ben Stiller and Akerman will produce, Paone will also direct.

Bo Burnham’s spec script Gay Kid and Fat Chick is moving forward at Paramount Players with director Amy York Rubin at the helm. The dramedy script placed on the 2013 Black List and has been in development ever since. Tooley Productions picked up Tony Gayton’s crime-drama spec Thug. The story follows an aging ex-boxer and enforcer for a San Pedro gangster as he tries to fix his past mistakes and reconnect with his estranged children. Tucker Tooley will produce, and Christian Gudegast (London Has Fallen) will direct. New Line Cinema is moving forward with The Long Walk, adapted by James Vanderbilt from the novel by Stephen King (written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman). Vanderbilt had written the script on spec before New Line picked it up. Peter Dinklage to produce, perhaps star in O’Lucky Day for Legendary Pictures. The script, written by Andrew Dodge, follows a con man who poses as a leprechaun to exact an elaborate scheme of vengeance. Jon S. Baird will direct.

More script sales:

– Chicken Run is getting a sequel! Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell (writers on the first movie) are set to script, and Sam Fell (Flushed Away, Paranorman) will direct.

– Ashley Edward Miller to adapt Red Sonja for Millennium Films.

– Blue Ice Pictures picked up Adriana Maggs and Jane Maggs’ sports biopic Goalie about Canadian NHL player Terry Sawchuk and based on the poem “Night Work” by Randall Maggs and the book Sawchuk: The Troubles and Triumphs of the World’s Greatest Goalie by David Dupuis.

– Oscar-winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) is set to write and direct a movie based on his graphic novel The American Way: Those Above And Those Below, written with artist Georges Jeanty. Jason Blum will produce.

– TriStar Pictures picked up Alex Garland’s family/fantasy script The Toymaker’s Secret. Paloma Baeza will direct.

– Clea DuVall to direct Happiest Season, which she co-wrote with Mary Holland, for TriStar Pictures.

– Lorne Michaels to produce Baby Nurse, written by Austin Winsberg. Leslie Jones and Colin Jost are set to star.