You are viewing the archive: “Alex Kurtzman”

Universal Nabs Kurtzman & Orci-Developed Sci-Fi Pitch ‘Sagittarius A’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday March 13, 2013 @ 11:43am PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Sagittarius A, Steven Karczynski, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has acquired Sagittarius A, an original sci-fi thriller pitch that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci developed with Steven Karczynski. The script will be written by Karczynski, whose Black List screenplay The Umbra is set at Endgame Entertainment with Martin Campbell attached to direct. The scribe also adapted the Capcom video game Dark Void for Reliance and Plan B Entertainment. Kurtzman and Orci will produce for their Universal-based K/O Paper Products, with K/O president Bobby Cohen also producing. K/O executive Kim Cavyan brought in the project. Karczynski is repped by Gersh and Digital Conspiracy and Kurtzman and Orci are repped by CAA.

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Len Wiseman Wrapping Up Deal To Helm Universal Reboot Of ‘The Mummy’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday September 24, 2012 @ 2:07pm PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Big Deals Film, Len Wiseman, Roberto Orci, Universal Pictures
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures is setting Len Wiseman to direct The Mummy, the reboot of a franchise whose most recent incarnation grossed $1.25 billion over three films. Jon Spaihts is writing the script and the studio is eyeing a potential summer 2014 release, so things are moving quickly, with Universal eager to ramp back up one of its most venerable franchises.

The film is being produced by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci through their Universal-based K/O Paper Products, alongside former partners Sean Daniel and Jim Jacks. Latter two produced the version launched by Steve Sommers which starred Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. That trilogy was based on the Karl Fruend-directed Boris Karloff starrer that the studio made in 1932.

I spoke to both Kurtzman and Wiseman, and they said the script Spaihts is writing puts the gauze-covered villain into a modern-day context. Read More »

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ABC Buys High-Concept Drama From Noah Hawley, Alex Kurtzman And Bob Orci

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Monday July 30, 2012 @ 4:12pm PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Noah Hawley
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: The Unusuals and My Generation creator Noah Hawley is back at ABC with a new hourlong project, this time joined by producers Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci. The network has handed out a script commitment with … Read More »

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Alex Kurtzman And Roberto Orci’s ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Drama Lands At Fox As Put Pilot

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday July 20, 2012 @ 11:00pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox TV, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, Sleepy Hollow
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: After garnering interest from several networks, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci‘s Sleepy Hollow drama pitch has landed at Fox with a put pilot commitment. Underworld helmer Len Wiseman is on board to direct the … Read More »

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Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci Shop ‘Sleepy Hollow’ Series; Len Wiseman Set To Direct

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday July 20, 2012 @ 11:39am PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Len Wiseman, Roberto Orci, Sleepy Hollow
Nellie Andreeva

Sleepy Hollow SeriesEXCLUSIVE: The first big drama project of the 2012 pitch season has hit the marketplace. Sleepy Hollow hails from Transformers writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, with Underworld helmer Len Wiseman on board to direct. … Read More »

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Universal Signs Kurtzman And Orci; Pair Takes On ‘The Mummy’ And ‘Van Helsing’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday May 1, 2012 @ 9:35am PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Big Deals Film, K/O Paper Products, Roberto Orci, Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures The MummyUniversal said the first projects in the exclusive two-year deal with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and their K/O Paper Products banner will be remakes of studio library titles The Mummy alongside producer Sean Daniel and writer Jon Spaihts and Van Helsing with Tom Cruise attached. The writer-producers will set up shop on the Universal lot, and former assistants Ben Kim and Kim Cavyan will come aboard as creative executives. Kurtzman and Orci previously had a deal with David Ellison’s Skydance Productions but that didn’t take. Before that, they were with DreamWorks. Their credits include writing two Transformers movies and the Star Trek reboot as well as the disappointing Cowboys & Aliens. On the TV side, they created Fringe produce Hawaii Five-0. Here’s the full release:

Alex Kurtzman Roberto Orci UniversalUNIVERSAL CITY, CA, May 1, 2011—Universal Pictures today announced the studio has signed a two-year first-look production deal with one of the leading writing/producing teams in the entertainment industry, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, and their K/O Paper Products banner. The duo will kick off their new relationship with Universal by reimagining titles from the studio’s library including Van Helsing and The Mummy. The announcement was made by Universal Pictures Chairman, Adam Fogelson and Co-Chairman, Donna Langley.

Kurtzman and Orci have collaborated with some of the industry’s top creative minds including J.J. Abrams, with whom they wrote the third installment of Mission: Impossible, which grossed nearly $400 million at the worldwide box office. In 2007, they wrote Transformers and went on to write Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009. Together, those films grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide. More recently, the pair wrote and executive produced 2009’s Star Trek, which grossed more than $385 million worldwide. Accompanying their impressive film resume, Kurtzman and Orci have found tremendous success in television, having created the series Fringe, writing/producing Alias and in 2010, producing the reboot of Hawaii Five-O. They also currently executive produce the highest rated show on Hasbro’s The Hub, Transformers Prime.

Read More »

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Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci Re-Writing Sequel To ‘Amazing Spider-Man’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 24, 2012 @ 11:24am PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Big Deals Film, Roberto Orci, Sony, The Amazing Spider-Man
Mike Fleming

Amazing Spider-Man Roberto Orci Alex KurtzmanBREAKING: Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have been tapped by Sony Pictures to rewrite the script for the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, the 3D Marc Webb-directed film that introduces Andrew Garfield as the webslinger and Emma Stone as his love interest Gwen Stacy. Sony releases the franchise relaunch July 3. The first draft was done by Amazing Spider-Man scribe James Vanderbilt. Sony has tentatively scheduled production for the first quarter of 2013.

Alex Kurtzman Roberto Orci Spider-ManKurtzman & Orci are no strangers to event-sized movies. Aside from Star Trek and the upcoming sequel, which they wrote along with Damon Lindelof, their credits include two Transformers films and Mission: Impossible III. They are repped by CAA and attorney Michael Gendler. The duo will receive exec producer credits on the Spider-Man sequel, which is produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach and the late Laura Ziskin. Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘People Like Us’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday March 29, 2012 @ 8:26pm PDTTags: 'People Like Us', Alex Kurtzman, Disney, DreamWorks

Two weeks ago, Disney and DreamWorks announced a new title and a release date for the project once known as Welcome to People – it’s now known as People Like Us and is due to be released June 29. Now, three months before the film’s planned release, the … Read More »

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Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci In Talks For Deal With David Ellison’s Skydance

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday October 25, 2011 @ 1:00pm PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, David Ellison, K/O Paper Products, Roberto Orci, Skydance Productions
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Details are sketchy at the moment, but Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci’s studio-based K/O Paper Products company is in negotiations to join David Ellison’s Skydance Productions. The deal would be uniquely structured, sources say; Skydance declined comment. Kurtzman and … Read More »

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Sci-Fi White House Drama Written By Jon Favreau, Roberto Orci, Seth Green & Michael Dougherty Gets Put Pilot At ABC

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday October 5, 2011 @ 8:19am PDTTags: ABC, Alex Kurtzman, Jon Favreau, Roberto Orci, Seth Green
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: This is a writing team configuration that is sure to get people’s attention: Jon Favreau, Roberto Orci, Seth Green and Michael Dougherty. It certainly got ABC’s — the network has handed out a put pilot commitment to Ex-Comm, a sci-fi drama with humor, which will be written by the quartet. Iron Man helmer Favreau is set to direct the potential pilot, with 20th Century Fox TV and Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci’s studio-based K/O Paper Products producing. Ex-Comm is described as a present-day “presidential procedural” and a cross between the paranormal suspense of The X-Files and the political intrigue of The West Wing. It follows a newly-elected President and his top secret “Executive Committee” (a.k.a. Ex-Comm), the government’s covert team of America’s most elite minds who investigate and protect our nation from the strangest occurrences and “conspiracy theory truths” out there. Tonally, the show aims to be fun but grounded, with everything in it operating within the realm of possibility. Favreau, Orci, Green and Dougherty are executive producing with Kurtzman, K/O’s Heather Kadin and Green’s producing partner at Stoopid Monkey Matthew Senreich.

How did the writing team on Ex-Comm get assembled? Robot Chicken co-creator Green and Superman Returns/X Men 2 co-writer Dougherty hatched the idea and took it to Kurtzman and Orci’s company. Meanwhile, Kurtzman and Orci co-wrote this past summer’s Cowboys & Aliens movie, which Favreau directed. While abroad doing press for the film with the rest of the cast and crew, Orci was working on the Ex-Comm pitch, and that’s how Favreau heard about it and came on board. Read More »

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Fox Buys Wyatt Earp Western From Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, Dating Comedy

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Thursday September 29, 2011 @ 4:00pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox TV, Alex Kurtzman, Chernin Entertainment, Cowboys & Aliens, Fox, K/O Paper Products, Roberto Orci
Nellie Andreeva

Fox is joining the Western trend this development season with an untitled drama project from producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who co-wrote this summer’s big-screen Western with a sci-fi twist Cowboys & Aliens. Written by The Shield alum John Hlavin, the project is described as a Western that tells the origins of Wyatt Earp, chronicling both the well-known incidents in his life such as the Gunfight at the OK Corral and lesser-known details of Earp and his brothers bringing order to a lawless frontier. UTA-repped Hlavin, who has a feature Western, The Gunslinger, in development at Warner Bros, brought the project to Kurtzman and Orci. The three will executive produce with Heather Kadin for 20th Century Fox TV and Kurtzman and Orci’s K/O Paper Products. Read More »

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Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci Sell Female-Driven Drama To CBS With Penalty

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday September 28, 2011 @ 6:53pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox TV, Alex Kurtzman, CBS, Roberto Orci
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci have sold their first project this season, a female-centered, character-driven drama, which has landed at CBS with a script commitment plus penalty. Written by Anna Fricke, the untitled project is based on Robyn O’Brien, … Read More »

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JJ Abrams Moving Toward Helming ‘Star Trek 2,’ But ‘G.I. Joe’ Sequel Will Get His June 29, 2012 Release Slot

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday July 27, 2011 @ 12:20pm PDTTags: Adam Cozad, Adrianne Palicki, Alex Kurtzman, Channing Tatum, Damon Lindelof, David Koepp, Dwayne Johnson, G.I. Joe 2, JJ Abrams, Jon M. Chu, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Roberto Orci
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Now that the launch of Super 8 is behind him, JJ Abrams is moving toward a commitment to direct Star Trek 2. But just as Deadline has been telling you, there’s no way that he’ll be able to make the June 29, 2012 release date that Paramount carved out for the film. I’m told that the studio will give that slot to G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the sequel that will be directed by Jon M. Chu and stars Channing Tatum, Dwayne Johnson and Adrianne Palicki, with Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing.

Abrams has just returned from vacation and is hunkering down with writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof to work on the Trek script and beginning prep for a Trek sequel that will likely begin production in January and either be dated for release for the fourth quarter of 2012 or summer 2013. Abrams hasn’t formally committed and hasn’t approved a script yet, but the studio has exercised its option on the cast and they will be ready when Abrams is. All this means that Chris Pine will definitely play Captain Kirk before he reboots Jack Ryan for the same studio. Read More »

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Can ‘Cowboys & Aliens’ Lasso Youth?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday July 21, 2011 @ 7:30pm PDTTags: Alan Gasmer, Alex Kurtzman, Brian Grazer, Cowboys & Aliens, Damon Lindelof, Daniel Craig, David Hayter, Harrison Ford, Hawk Ostby, Jon Favreau, Joshua Oppenheimer, Mark Fergus, Rob Carlson, Roberto Orci, Ron Howard, Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Stacey Snider, Steven Spielberg, Thomas Donnelly
Mike Fleming

Studios usually view Comic-Con as a venue to start momentum on projects that won’t be in theaters for up to a year. This Saturday, DreamWorks and Universal will try to turn the rabid youth demographic at Comic-Con into true believers … Read More »

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Ben Affleck To Turn French-Flavored Harlan Coben Novel ‘Tell No One’ Into Feature

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 15, 2011 @ 10:37am PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Ben Affleck, Frank Marshall, Greg Silverman, Guillaume Canet, Kathleen Kennedy, Luc Besson, Roberto Orci, Universal Pictures International, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Harlan Coben, one of the biggest-selling mystery writers in America, is finally in line to have one of his books made into a major Hollywood film. And all he had to do was make a detour through France.

Warner Bros and Universal Pictures have optioned rights to Coben’s thriller Tell No One. Ben Affleck is attached to direct, and the script will be written by Chris Terrio. Terrio scripted Argo, the film Affleck is preparing to direct next for Warner Bros. Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will be the producers. The studios will co-develop the picture, with Warner Bros releasing domestically and Universal Pictures International launching it overseas. The deal involves Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp, and that’s where the French connection comes in. The new project is basically a remake of the French film adaptation of Coben’s book, which was directed by Guillaume Canet.

Coben originally set up his book at Sony Pictures in 2002. The studio hired Star Trek scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, no less. Coben has a page-turning writing style, but his mysteries aren’t seamless screen transitions. It never quite came together and Sony let it go. Canet then got involved, figured out how to make the premise work, set it up at EuropaCorp and turned it into French film. The plot involves a pediatrician who is out one night frolicking by a lake with his wife when she suddenly vanishes and he is severely beaten when he tries to find her. When she turns up murdered, he is prime suspect. That’s until she’s declared a victim of a caught serial killer. Years later, bodies turn up in the same spot and the nightmare is repeated, the pediatrician again under suspicion. Right around that time, he’s given evidence that his wife wasn’t dead at all. Canet managed to make all of that work, anchored by the fact the protagonist never got over the death of his wife. Sarah Schechter and Greg Silverman are running the project for Warner Bros, and Adam Yoelin is steering it for Kennedy/Marshall. Read More »

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‘Lost’s Damon Lindelof Makes 7-Figure Disney Deal To Write Secret Sci-Fi Feature

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday June 9, 2011 @ 11:43am PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Disney, JJ Abrams, Jon Favreau, Lost, Ridley Scott, Roberto Orci, Sean Bailey
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In its latest attempt to hatch a large-scale film that can play to a family audience, Disney has made a seven-figure deal with screenwriter and Lost exec producer Damon Lindelof to write and produce an original large-scale science fiction feature film. Other than the fact that the project has a working title of 1952, I couldn’t pry plot details out of anybody. I’m not sure if the title connotes a period the film is set in, or if it is a Lost reference. I’ve also heard that this project isn’t just being conceived for movies only, but that it has multiple platform aspirations.

The project came out of a series of meetings that Lindelof had with Disney’s production president Sean Bailey and senior exec Brigham Taylor, and it’s the first film that Lindelof is producing from the ground up. Since ending the run of Lost and serving as one of the show’s architects all the way through, Lindelof has been on fire as a screenwriter. He teamed with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci to script the Jon Favreau-directed Cowboys & Aliens. Lindelof came aboard to rewrite Ridley Scott’s 3D Alien prequel and injected enough new ideas into the Prometheus script for Fox and Scott to deem the film an original. Lindelof is right now working with Kurtzman and Orci to pull together a Star Trek sequel that can be ready to begin production later this year or early next. I’ve reported my skepticism that Abrams would ever be able to move from launching Super 8 and jump into a Star Trek sequel that will make its summer 2012 release date, because the scribes need Abrams to give a thumbs up to the 70-page story outline they’ve written, and turn that into a script. Read More »

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Can ‘Star Trek 2′ Morph From 70-Page Outline To Summer Tent Pole In 13 Months?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 24, 2011 @ 4:03pm PDTTags: Adam Cozad, Alex Kurtzman, Chris Pine, Damon Lindelof, David Koepp, Gavin Hood, Jack Ryan, JJ Abrams, Michael Bay, Ridley Scott, Roberto Orci, Tom Clancy
Mike Fleming

Paramount isn’t confirming any of this, but I’m told that there soon should be good news and bad news on the Star Trek sequel front. The good news: With his film Super 8 set for release June 10, JJ Abrams is expected to announce shortly his return as director of Star Trek 2. The bad news: Even moving at warp speed, Abrams will be hard pressed to make the June 29, 2012 release date that the studio set for the film. I’m told that the move being considered right now is to push Trek back for a Holiday 2012 release. This comes after Paramount pushed back the other franchise film in its arsenal that has Chris Pine as its star. Pine’s also playing Jack Ryan in the reboot of the Tom Clancy-created series. Pine was expected to shoot that film first, but the script wasn’t ready. Paramount hired David Koepp to rewrite Adam Cozad’s script. Koepp just began writing this week after completing his film Premium Rush.

Why is Star Trek in such precarious shape, just 13 months before its release date? The film has three top-flight writers in Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof. Like Abrams, all of them have been busy on other films. Kurtzman directed Welcome to People. Orci has been busy on Cowboys & Aliens and in prepping the Gavin Hood-directed sci-fi epic Ender’s Game. Lindelof has been busy working on Prometheus, the Ridley Scott film for Fox that was conceived as a 3D prequel until Lindelof came on to do a rewrite and changed the concept so much that they consider it an original. The result? It doesn’t sound like they are close to having a script that will live up to the high quality of the first film that revived a dead franchise. Read More »

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Franchise-Hungry Summit Plays ‘Ender’s Game’ With Filmmaker Gavin Hood

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday April 28, 2011 @ 2:19pm PDTTags: Alex Kurtzman, Gavin Hood, Nick Meyer, Roberto Orci, Summit Entertainment
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Summit Entertainment is acquiring U.S. rights to a live-action adaptation of the Orson Scott Card science fiction novel Ender’s Game, with Gavin Hood set to direct his script. Summit, which is winding down its Twilight Saga series, is co-financing Ender’s Game and eyeing it as an opportunity to hatch another youth-driven series, with protagonists that are slightly younger than the kids in the upcoming The Hunger Games trilogy. It’s another opportunity to discover young talent, because the protagonists in the film are just entering their teens. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are producing through their K/O Paper Products banner, along with Odd Lot’s Gigi Pritzker and Linda McDonough, the author and Lynn Hendee. Digital Domain is also an equity partner. The film will be shopped at the upcoming 2011 Cannes Film Festival, with Nick Meyer’s Sierra/Affinity brokering offshore deals. The plan is to put the film into production by early next year.

Ender’s Game is a seminal futuristic novel that Card originated as a short story in 1977 and then turned into a 1985 book that won both the Hugh and Nebula Awards and spawned a series. The storyline begins on Earth after an alien attack, when gifted children are recruited by a government desperate to fight back. The kids are taught a competitive game that’s a cross between the Quidditch matches of Harry Potter and the Jedi light saber battles from Star Wars. Only the best and brightest will be chosen. A young boy emerges as a genius strategist, and the planet’s best hope to destroy the alien Formic race. Read More »

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Script Delays Puts ‘Star Trek’ Sequel Before Jack Ryan For Chris Pine And Paramount

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday March 28, 2011 @ 5:29pm PDTTags: Adam Cozad, Alex Kurtzman, Anthony Peckham, Chris Pine, Damon Lindelof, Hossein Amini, Jack Bender, Jack Ryan, JJ Abrams, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Roberto Orci, Steve Zaillian, Tom Clancy
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures has scrapped a tentative plan for Chris Pine to resuscitate the Jack Ryan franchise before he reprises his James T. Kirk role in a Star Trek sequel. The slow process of nailing the Ryan script has prompted … Read More »

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