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.