ITV Pays $30M For Controlling Stake In ‘Hatfields … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Anchorman 2′ 
2ND UPDATE: Charlie Sheen Fired Selma Blair From … 
Time Warner Cable Sued For Passing Lakers-Dodgers Costs On … 
Jonah Hill Signs For Management With LBI 
TOLDJA! ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ Proves No-Brainer … 
Salma Hayek’s Animated Passion Project ‘The … 
Relativity Moves Scott Cooper’s ‘Out Of The … 
Hot Trailer: ‘The Lego Movie’ 
Comedy ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Gets Series Order … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
Deadline Expands: Hires Washington Post Journalist Lisa De … 
MGM & BermanBraun Sign TV Production Deal, First-Look … 
EMMYS: ‘Big Bang Theory’s Science 
‘Client List’ Season 3 Pickup In Limbo Over … 
Amazon Orders Cop Drama Pilot Based On Michael … 
Lionsgate Acquires Pulitzer Prize Winner ‘Devil In … 
EXCLUSIVE: Let Me In and Cloverfield director Matt Reeves has been chosen by Warner Bros to direct The Twilight Zone, the Jason Rothenberg-scripted thriller based on the classic Rod Serling TV series. Negotiations will get underway early next week, but this is an assignment that was coveted by a number of top directors.
The Twilight Zone is being produced by Appian Way partners Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson Killoran, and Michael Ireland. Warner Bros’ Matt Cherniss is the exec. Though the last Twilight Zone film was an anthology with different directors, this one is a big science fiction action movie with a single freestanding story that is linked to the original series mainly in that it shares that familiarly eerie feel. The hope is to sign to sign Reeves quickly, continue to work on the script and get the picture into production by next summer.
Reeves is aligned with several major projects that will keep him busy for some time. He recently signed on to develop to direct This Dark Endeavor, a revisionist take on the Frankenstein tale based on Kenneth Oppel’s novel, with Jacob Aaron Estes writing the script for Summit Entertainment. Reeves is also attached to direct the Justin Cronin vampire novel The Passage for Fox 2000, and he’s got a deal at Universal to write and direct a film based on the Ray Nelson short story 8 O’Clock in the Morning, about a man who awakens with the realization that aliens are all over the place and control society. Reeves is repped by CAA and 3 Arts.
Loading ...
tell me again why this is a Twilight Zone film and not just a sci-fi action with a eerie feel?
For the same reason there are so many reboots. Current studio logic is that material with an established fan-base equals box office revenue.
Not saying I agree with it, but I do understand the logic.
He needs more work-to keep him from doing 8 O’Clock in the Morning. We already got John carpenters version, They Live, and that film is awesome.
I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THE NEW TWILIGHT ZONE THE MOVIE. IT WILL BE INTERESTED TO SEE HOW CLOSE THE MOVIE WILL BE TO THE SERIES. GOOD LUCK TO THE MOVIES. PLEASE DON’T TURN IT INTO A 3RD MOVIES. YOUR TRULY CHARLES DAVID HASKELL
How many more people must die before this franchise has had its fill?
“Negotiations will get underway early next week, but this is an assignment that was coveted by a number of top directors.”
Bullshit. His name was thrown into a hat with a number of other top directors who would have never taken the job (Nolan, really???), but by going to them first Warner can pretend Matt Reeves is bigger than a one-shit JJ Abrams-assisted wonder whose last film was an outright flop.
This is the same dumbass bait and switch ploy that all the studios practice when they have a franchise assignment they don’t give a shit about.
There’s been interest by other directors, it’s been talked about on and off for years.
i think you’re letting your blind unfounded hatred blind you to facts. Matt Reeves has made two successful movies in Cloverfield and Let me In, the latter nobody ever expected to be good and in the end at least equaled the quality of the original version. And you shouldn’t throw around words like outright flop unless you know what you’re talking about. Let Me In made it’s budget back after being dumped in early October. It shows a healthy profit after post-release.
It’s half true.
This isn’t going to be a The Twilight Zone movie – it’s going to be a regular script that WB didn’t have the confidence to make under it’s own name and is thus kind of stealing the title ‘The Twilight Zone’ to try and use to brand and sell the film.
Kind of like Disney is doing with future bomb ‘The Lone Ranger’ really.
IF it was a proper adaption it would follow the three 40 minute separate story idea – but anthologies don’t work at the box office so they would never give that idea significant thought.
Though it does imply the script may not be up to much BECAUSE they won’t make it and market it under it’s own title and are using the name to sell it instead.
By the same token, I’m not going to go too hard on Reeves. His two films so far aren’t as bad as the entire CV of Paul WS Anderson, for example.
Let Me In wasn’t a flop perse, but it barely broke even when you factor in where there money goes. Hardly a success story.
Also most critics said it was as good as it was because it copied a superior film and Reeves was smart enough not to change anything. In no way did it equal the original.
*the money goes
Did you kick a puppy before or after you posted this comment?
There’s already been two tv series and a movie. Please come up with some original ideas already.
There have been 3 tv series: One in 1959, one in 1985, and one in 2002.
Thank you for correcting me.
And didn’t this guy just make an inferior remake of a better foreign film that just came out three years ago? It’s like a hidden circle of enablers in tinseltown.
People might still be going to the theater just to do something, but even that is going to dry up as long as they keep rehashing the same ideas over and over again. The studios are making money now, but they are ruining the concept of movies in general and thereby their brands.
A nice and having solid data of Hollywood ….deadline doing well
Too soon?
‘Hollywood worries about weak box office’ and yet another remake in The Twilight Zone. Anyone else see the correlation here?
This is just going to be a black eye to the twilight zone series. Unless they dig up rod serling there’s no contemporary writer that can do it justice. And michael Ireland at appian way is a huge douche. His involvement speaks volumes of this project.
What’s wrong did Ireland pass on one of your scripts? If so, it must have sucked because Mike is the man. One of the smartest young execs in town. Leo’s lucky to have him, but it won’t be for much longer. The guys on the rise with a bullet.
I’m totally with you Petey. I think Matt is a genius.
“Let Me In” is a favorite film of mine. I’d go as far to even say a perfect film. I don’t care what the BO numbers were. I love that film.
I beleive this is due to his working up the ranks from actor to writer and director.
I know he will “Bring It” to Twilight Zone.
After multiple reboots that haven’t lived up to the genius of the original, those five seasons continue to stand tall on their own. Even if the new film is awful (and I’m more than willing to give it a chance), the original series is immune from association at this point.
For a real life example, see ‘The Honeymooners’.
Clearly you’ve never met him because there is not one person who has who would ascribe ‘huge douche’ to Mike Ireland. He’s one of the nicest people on the planet and smart as a whip. Your comment speaks volumes about you.
They’ve been trying to do an OUTER LIMITS film over at MGM. I wonder which one — if any — will make it to the gate.
How is this different than any Shyamalan film?
A single freestanding story “evoking the feel” of the old series? So it has a requisite twist then, right?
Bizarre.
Let’s hope no one gets murdered -I mean “accidently” killed on this one!
John Landis/StevenSpielberg escaped all responsibility for the deaths of actors Vic Morrow and the two Vietnamese children back in 1983/84. As Landis’ highly exspensive defence team kept saying, no one told Landis is was going to be that dangerous!
I guess now we’re in the digital age you don’t have to put real bullets in the guns, and Lillian Gish doesn’t have to risk life and limb on that iceberg anymore!
Spelling, please.
Tori. Aaron. You’re welcome.
i dont get the “only connection is an eerie feel” thing. so any movie with a zone type of feel could be called twilight zone?
This is all about trying to create a Twilight Zone branded series of stand alone Sci Fi movies.I wouldn’t be surprised to see a TV show if the movies are reasonably successful.
I’m ok with this only if the movies are actually good,that the powers that be who are involved really get quality stories and have quality actors and quality writing.It would be better if they used existing stories,maybe short stories than if they write the story from scratch.
It also would be much better if these movies really push the envelope and don’t depend on fairly routine Sci Fi but that will mean big money so we’ll have to see what happens.
Jason Rothenberg is a smart writer. This could be something.
I remain skeptical, but am willing to give the producers and writers a chance to prove this might work. But with such a classic title as TWILIGHT ZONE, it could be very tricky. Serling’s stories were brilliant in their twists and turns, not just because of visual effects (which, when used, were usually a supporting element to the plot).
A new TWILIGHT ZONE cannot just be a movie with an “eery feel”, it has to go way beyond that. If that were the case, M. Night Shamylan would have claimed that title with THE SIXTH SENSE.
The original TWILIGHT ZONE allowed the viewers imagination to often fill in the blanks, so hopefully this new incarnation would avoid silly gimmickry like 3D. A brave choice would be to go black-and-white – like THE ARTIST has done – to give it a truly period, noir, eerie feel.
We’ll see, but given the spotty track record on reimagined films, the film will have to be especially superior in order to carry forward Serling’s mantle.
I agree with your sentiments here whole-heartedly. With one exception, there is nothing ‘noir’ about The Artist. Noir is much more than just black and white.
Nobody on this board has read the script to this movie but there’s a reason it’s being fast-tracked, and Reeves is the right guy to do it for a price. Reeves plus the title plus some non-name (inexpensive) actors can keep the budget under 125$ and potentially double or triple that worldwide.
more Hollywood originality
Go Matt!
I’m on board. “Let Me In” was, like Stephen King said, the ‘best American Horror movie in the last 20 years,’ thanks to Mr. Reeves. And with his adept handle on the craft of storytelling, I am intrigued to see him play in the TWILIGHT ZONE world.
Oh, and Matt…after you’re finished with this project—give your friend Bob Orci a call and figure out a way to get LOCKE & KEY adapted into a movie or movie(s), please.
the reason it’s a ‘twilight zone’ movie is because they’re adapting material originally written for the twilight zone tv series.
OK, first — “The Twilight Zone” means absolutely NOTHING to today’s movie audiences. I’d guess mid-40s is the YOUNGEST age group that relates even remotely to “The Twilight Zone.”
Second — $250,000-a-year “development executives,” read my virtual lips: Just because there is vague “name recognition” in an “existing franchise” that is “primed for exploitation” (words I’ve seen written in justification e-mails and presentations), that does NOT mean you can go and rip off every single title in your library.
Third — Do the massive, epic failures of “franchises” like “Sgt. Bilko,” “Car 54, Where Are You?” and, more recently on TV, the audience rejection of “sure thing” properties like Playboy mean absolutely NOTHING to you?
Fourth — Even Guillermo del Toro can’t find an audience. Despite the allegedly sure-fire, fanboy interest in his “name,” nothing resonates LESS with mainstream audiences than has-been sci-fi and horror that they could care less about.
Fifth — Do the words “The Thing” mean anything to you?
Sixth and lastly — Pay Matt Reeves (and every other “bankable” director, actor and screenwriter out there), along with your development executives, a $75,000 salary. That’s pretty decent in the real world. If they deliver, if they make something that actually generates a profit, then pay them a back-end bonus, or give ‘em more next time. In other words, make them live like everyone else. If Hollywood would lower its pay structure by 90% for everyone, from execs to supposed “A-list” directors, we might see some actual quality and imagination.
Yeah, I know, I went all over the map on this one. But hearing that “The Twilight Zone” is suddenly a hot property really gets me going … it’s exactly this lack of imagination that is causing $17 million opening weekends for “Footloose” and $10 million opening weekends for “The Thing.” Because MOVIEGOERS DON’T LIKE THE PRODUCT!
Good points. Although I’d say more like mid-30s is the age group for the Zone.
They’re taking a half-hour show that didn’t work when they expanded it to one-hour and expanding it to TWO?
Madness…
100 percent correct. The one-hour TZ episodes were not good and that’s when Rod Serling was writing or re-writing them. This is a bad idea. A very bad idea.
Can’t someone put a stop to WB making another sci-fi actioner and slapping the revered title ‘Twilight Zone’ on it?
It is a bothersome trend these days,when people start messing
with superior classic TV,either by the rebooting/remake process,
or toying with the idea of creating a type of Franchise. didn’t
Warner Bros. learn their lesson in 1983? obviously not,since the
idea of yet another “TWILIGHT ZONE” movie is the latest in Bad
Ideas! the last time we saw another TZ remake,was when UPN had
New Line Cinema TV do a 2002 series with Forest Whittaker-which
was equally pathetic as CBS’s deal with MGM/UA in 1988 to make
newer TZ episodes,from their 1985-86 series. certain things are
simply never ment to be! the original TV series is still very
superior to this day,,nor could anyone ever hope to best that-
reguardless of their intentions,,so folks-create YOUR OWN STUFF!
If you want quality storytelling with studios, producers, directors and actors who care about the product they make…go see and support independent films.
The major studios don’t get it and never will.