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EXCLUSIVE AND UPDATED: Fox 2000 has beat out Universal Pictures by paying north of $2 million for a pitch by Susannah Grant and rights to songs from the Beach Boys song catalogue that will form the basis for an original musical that Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, and John Stamos (who used to regularly sit in with the band in more modern times) will produce. The template for the film is to do with the Beach Boys songs what the global blockbuster Mamma Mia! did with Abba. This is not a biopic of the famous musical group; instead the Beach Boys serve as a backdrop for an original narrative. According to the log line: “The story takes place in Southern California over a summer in the 60′s. It’s inspired by the sounds of the Beach Boys music and the beach culture of that time.” Much like Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Amanda Seyfried belted out Abba tunes in Mamma Mia!, the idea will be to pack the film with a cast that will sing Beach Boys standards. The 2 studios bid hard on the original musical and I heard both tendered 7-figure bids for Grant’s pitch. The trio of producers already teamed The Beach Boys: An American Family, a biographical ABC miniseries about the band.
Considering how much Beach Boys tunes are indelibly linked to movies that include American Graffiti to Love Actually (how perfect was the tune God Only Knows in the film’s finale?), there is potential for a movie lined with Brian Wilson’s genius compositions, particularly in the capable hands of Fox 2000 chief Elizabeth Gabler, who draws top directors.
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Didn’t they try this on Broadway and wasn’t it a huge flop???? I think it was called Good Vibrations…
Sad story but best music ever. Perhaps just write a story around the music but not a lot of good came for these guys. But the music, just awesome.
Whoa, Uncle Jesse is producing a Beach Boys musical? That actually makes sense to me, though I’m not sure why.
what about that Broadway show “Good Vibrations?” wasn’t that the same concept? (although that show was a huge bomb)
Sounds exactly like the Broadway musical “Good Vibrations” – which opened and closed quickly in early 2005 – surprised there is no mention of it??? Well, hopefully this one will hit.
Yeah. Writing is hard. Writing something that is good and will entertain people can be almost impossible.
But with these songs? Wow – I’d think that a mildly talented 12-year-old would be able to put something decent.
GOOD VIBRATIONS flopped because a musical with Beach Boys music needs, well, a beach. Susannah Grant’s a great writer and all the sun and surf scenes SET IN THE ’60s will be gorgeous. Remember, the MAMMA MIA story was ridiculous and still sold huge. BEST NEWS: they gotta film this project here in SoCal. Yea, jobs for the locals!
It would be an interesting show if they did it in three acts of various expressions and disciplines. Act I could be more of a high standard choreographed piece (Merce Cunningham-like) with just the studio sessions of their music rearranged for orchestra or symphony. Then in Act II take it to a more 1960′s feel of the times. Beach, Woody’s, Surfers moving around to the re-orchestrated music with all the action going on around them in dance and vignette’s. Act III could be the giant sand box that Brian so loved and an elevated piano with a musician playing his beautiful music in 360 and spotlights of the various high points to the most important works being highlighted with actors and dancers and lush scenery. Closing out with Smile and Good Vibrations.