Mike Fleming

UPDATE: Insiders tell me Sony Pictures won’t let this one get away. Expect Amy Pascal to announce shortly that she has filled a tent-pole slot in her release schedule. Emmerich deals generally mean a big upfront payment, big gross commitment and also a guarantee the studio will greenlight the movie per Emmerich’s blueprint.
PREVIOUS: Studios are buzzing about a new Roland Emmerich science fiction script that puts the filmmaker back in his wheelhouse after he directed the period drama Anonymous. Details are scant, but the script has a working title: Singularity. Sony Pictures has first crack at the project, but I’m told no deal has yet been made. Other studios are waiting to see if that studio passes, but the last time Amy Pascal had a shot at an Emmerich spec package, 2012, the studio broke the bank to make a deal that gave Emmerich about 20% of first dollar gross. It became a big global hit with a $770 million worldwide gross. Emmerich has been a singularly successful commercial filmmaker when playing on this kind of stage, from Stargate to Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, the latter two he made for 20th Century Fox. Stay tuned.