Script Sales

At long last: a movie about the early video game industry. Console Wars will pit Nintendo versus Sega, the fantasy of every 80s video game geek. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg directing--arguably, an ideal choice. Based on, if not very loosely, Dennis Rodman's exploits in North Korea, Peter Chernin is producing the comedy Diplomats. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill together again for a film based on Olympic hero-turned-terrorism-suspect Richard Jewell. And amongst a handful of drama and crime novel adaptations, a few no-brainer sequels: We're the Millers, Space Jam (long overdue), and The Lego Movie. Other script sales include: - Sony will produce the horror The Bringing, based on the real-life mystery (and perhaps supernatural event) of a woman found dead in an LA hotel. - Even older video games are entirely adaptable: Vertigo and Warner Bros. taking the helm on the action/adventure Minecraft. - Still alive and kicking in…

Script Pipeline contest winner Tripper Clancy, who in December sold The Ambassadors to Fox, will write Shedd for Paramount Animation, based on an original idea from Paramount President Adam Goodman. Announced last year, Choose Your Own Adventure is a go, from the series allowing readers to "control" their story--although chances are the theater audience won't control the plot of the movie (maybe someday). Divergent, written by Script Pipeline alum Evan Daugherty, will have its sequel, Insurgent, re-written by Akiva Goldsman. Brian Duffield penned the original draft. Thor 3 is set, and Daniel Craig will star in a spy thriller where his name is something other than James Bond. Other script sales include: - Chip N' Dale and the Rescue Rangers get their first mainstream feature break. The project will be mixed live-action/CGI. - The sports drama The Battered Bastards of Baseball, from a true story most baseball fans aren't even…

Amongst a number of genre pitches, in one of the final deals of the year, Script Pipeline Screenwriting Contest winner Tripper Clancy (The Ambassadors) sold his comedy pitch Winter Break to QED International (District 9). 20th Century Fox will remake Guys and Dolls. A film detailing the Berlin Olympics and Jesse Owens' legendary performance is in motion--Walt Disney producing. And a pair of Spider-Man spinoffs, The Sinister Six and Venom, join a pair of sports-related projects, Lance Armstrong and Vince Lombardi biopics. Other script sales include: - Batman vs. Superman is a go. Zack Snyder will direct the ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, and Henry Cavill. - Josh Gad will star in Warner Bros.' adaptation of Gilligan's Island. - If you're going to remake The Naked Gun, who better to star than Ed Helms. . . ? - Tom Cruise will naturally reprise his role in a…

The superhero movie trend isn't going anywhere for a while, with a number of script sales based on comics/graphic novels, including Sleeper, to be produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. And after what is soon to be six Lord of the Rings films, Tolkien himself (well, an actor playing Tolkien) will hit the big screen in a biopic produced by Fox Searchlight. Napoleon, too, gets the biopic treatment. Rupert Sanders directing. Seems like this is the case every month, but it was far more noticeable in November: nearly 100% of script sales were either a pitch, an adaptation, or material based on a true story. Other script sales include: - For those who haven't heard of Key and Peele, you will soon, in a Judd Apatow-helmed project. - You had us at "Untitled Stan Lee Pitch," Columbia Pictures. - Monster High, based on the Mattel line of dolls. -…

First the White House, now London. A sequel to Olympus Has Fallen, aptly entitled London Has Fallen, will be produced by Millennium Films. This was announced earlier, but bears repeating: MGM rebooting Ben-Hur. Hugh Jackson to play PT Barnum in the biopic The Greatest Showman on Earth, and Benderspink producing an adaptation of the recently-published sci-fi novel Day One. In case you've been on hiatus in Antarctica for a year, Star Wars: Episode VII is currently in development, with JJ Abrams on-board to direct. The story will center on a new breed of jedis and an older Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker. Other script sales include: - MGM tackling an animated adaptation of The Addams Family. - The period drama The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism to be helmed by Dreamworks. Has Spielberg all over it. . . . - Disney enters…

Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition winner Tripper Clancy, who found representation with a Pipeline industry partner, sold The Ambassadors. Danny Boon will direct the 20th Century Fox-helmed ensemble comedy. Meanwhile, another Pipeline alum, Evan Daugherty, was hired to write GI Joe 3 for Paramount. Oscar Bait Alert: the Weinstein Company producing a biopic on acclaimed writer J.D. Salinger. Oscar Bait Alert Part II: DiCaprio may star in a biopic of Woodrow Wilson. And a ton of dramas--more than usual--round out the month. Other script sales include: - The original cast, all the way down to Jamie Foxx, will reprise their roles in a Horrible Bosses sequel. - JK Rowling returns--her book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a prequel of sorts to Harry Potter, will hit the big screen. - An adaptation of the video game Ghost Recon. Michael Bay to potentially direct. - Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill tabbed…

File this under the "Why Not?" category: Avatar part two, three, and four, all in development with James Cameron and a handful of co-writers. Early box office estimates are approximately $7 gillion. Also getting the sequel special, The Bourne Identity 5. Some dramas and period scripts were in the mix as well, including The Esperanza Fire, from Legendary Pictures, based on the true story, as well as the Ron Howard project In the Heart of the Sea, a survival tale about a stranded whaling ship in the 1800s. And on a lighter note, a fully animated Scooby-Doo film is in the works. Other script sales include: - Vertigo taking the wheel on Stephen King's epic story The Stand. - The Twilight Zone movie seems to be on the right track, at long last. - Comedian Amy Schumer bringing her talents to the big screen, both writing and acting, in an…

Amongst a spattering of sci-fi thrillers, a few popular titles emerge, including Gran Turismo and a follow-up to the tremendously successful The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a remake of the Swedish adaptation The Girl Who Played with Fire. Bust out an 80s keyboard and polish up your "Axel F" skills: Beverly Hills cop Axel Foley (aka Eddie Murphy) will return in a fourth installment of the franchise. And Tom Hanks is top dog in another Dan Brown thriller, Inferno. Ron Howard will direct. Other script sales include: - A biopic on the life of quarterback Kurt Warner (whose true story might be a lot more incredible than most think. . . ) - It's about time: Artemis Fowl, coming soon. Robert De Niro to executive produce the Disney pic. - Fox taking the wheel on a big-screen rendition of the now-classic comic series X-Force. - Winner of stand-out title…

Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx team up for the crime/drama Mean Business on North Ganson Street, marking the second time the two A-list actors join forces. Speaking of reteaming: Harry and Lloyd (aka Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels) will match wits again in Dumb and Dumber To. Lionsgate dealing with White Girl Problems--what's not to like about that title? And Ditto on the comedy Sports Chick, co-written by Jason Reitman, and the Benderspink project A Guy's Guide to Being a Man's Man. Universal and Vinson Films will also produce a live-action remake of the Japanses anime film Vexille. Other script sales include: - Classic throwback alert: an adaptation of the children's classic Encyclopedia Brown. Warner Bros. and Vertigo Entertainment producing. - Susan Cooper, written by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids), an action comedy putting a female in the James Bond role. - Reboot: Tomb Raider. - An adaptation of the Choose Your…

Someone opened the Drama floodgates: a greater-than-average number of specs were dramas or variations thereof, including Legacy of Secrecy, which explores the mafia's role in the JFK assassination. Jason Blum producing the thriller Visions and Reawakening. Benderspink and Universal producing the fantasy Red Queen, with Benderspink also on board to produce a film based on Medieval Times, optioning the rights to the well-known dinner show. Also a handful of sequels to popular franchises, including Red, Blade Runner, Men in Black, Joe Dirt, Mission Impossible, and Bad Santa. Other script sales include: - Francis Ford Coppola is doing an Italian-American period drama. That's all we need to know. - Billy Crystal to (finally) direct the 1940s baseball project Man on Spikes. - The world needs more Michael Shannon, and he's set to star in an as-of-yet untitled action/sci-fi thriller. - John Travolta tabbed for a biopic of John Gotti Jr.

Everything got a little more serious in April, with a slate of sci-fi, action, thriller, and adventure dominating the mix, rather than an influx of comedies. With the minor exceptions of Dodgeball 2 and a new, modernized take on the classic 80s film Weird Science. A prequel to Stephen King's The Shining is also in the works, The Overlook Hotel. And get battle-ready: Gears of War, based on the bestselling video game franchise, and Battle Los Angeles 2, a burgeoning franchise itself, are in development. Other script sales include: - Good grief, it's about time: Blue Sky will helm a CG Charlie Brown film. - 20th Century Fox taking the lead on an adaptation of Guys and Dolls. - The real question is: why wouldn't John McClane go to Tokyo in Die Hardest? - Vertigo Entertainment and Warner Bros. to produce Dungeons and Dragons, sure to shed the "geek" stigma…

Maybe dramas are on the comeback after all. A handful of drama/___ specs sold in March, including the sci-fi/drama All Our Yesterdays, the family/drama Milton's Secret, to star Peter Fonda, and the drama/romance The Engagement, with Reese Witherspoon producing. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay to produce the comedy Crazy U, based on the book. The duo is also producing the dramedy Welcome to Me--Kristen Wiig to potentially star. And Ron Howard's Imagine is teaming up with Universal on another Will Smith sci-fi/action, a remake of the lesser-known film Colossus: The Forbin Project. Other script sales include: - Jason Sudeikis + Charlie Day = Night on the Hudson. With two comic geniuses, does the plot matter? - Disney on board to remake the 1977 classic Pete's Dragon. - Because teen fantasy adaptations usually turn out pretty well: Daughter of Smoke and Bone in development. Joe Roth (Snow White and the Huntsman)…

It's a perfect world for novelists and those with incredible true stories. . . . A handful of fantasy/sci-fi specs in development, including The Drowned World, WB and Heyday producing, and the children's fantasy Tunnels, both based on novels of the same name. A new Fantastic Four coming soon. Newcomer Josh Trank at the helm. And Melissa McCarthy will try her hand at writing (and still starring, this time with real-life husband Ben Falcone) in Just Do It, about a married couple who plans to have sex for 101 straight days. Naturally, a romantic comedy. Other script sales include: - A testament to the talents of the late John Hughes, Paramount and Roth films working on a rewrite of his script The Grisbys Go Broke. - Barry Levinson directing a biopic on gangster Whitey Bulger. Johnny Depp attached. - Keeping the video game adaptation trend alive: Spy Hunter, based on…

This was inevitable, but may have happened a little sooner than most anticipated--and with an unlikely name at the helm: JJ Abrams' Bad Robot taking a bit of a genre turn with Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong to be released through Paramount. Also proving that notorious true stories get the fast-track-to-development, Happy Valley will cover Joe Paterno and the Penn State scandal, with Brian De Palma directing and Al Pacino attached to play the legendary coach. And over a decade after the enthralling original, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2 set to go into production. The Weinsteins producing. Other script sales include: - Apparently inspired by a mere illustration: the fantasy/family Teddy Bear, about a stuffed animal who protects its owner from monsters under the bed. - Entourage the movie gets the green light. Mark Wahlberg co-producing. The original cast set to reprise their roles. - MGM. Ben-Hur.…

A relatively unremarkable month for script sales after a big 2012, but some great projects in development nonetheless. A few teen/sci-fi scripts in the mix, including Monument 14, based on the recent novel, and Reboot, which will be published in 2013. Benderspink and Summit Entertainment co-producing the comedy Bitches 11, and Script Pipeline partner Thruline Entertainment managing the writer of recently sold Revoc, a sci-fi/thriller. Summit producing as well, with Mandeville Films. Steve Carrell may also star in the based-on-a-true-story comedy about everyone in a small village winning the lottery--except one man. Other script sales include: - 20th Century Fox adapting the sci-fi/thriller Theory of Everything, from the uber-cool comic series. - Disney + sea creatures = inevitably heartwarming in Dolphin Boy, about dolphins nurturing the recovery of a young Arab boy. - Can't wait to see the plot: Alice in Wonderland 2 has the green light. Joe Roth producing.…