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‘Vampire Academy’ Film Takes Flight; Mark Waters Directing Daniel Waters’ Script

By MIKE FLEMING JR. AND NANCY TARTAGLIONE | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 5:04pm PSTTags: IM Global, Mark Waters, Reliance, Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters

EXCLUSIVE: Hoping to tap a new vein in the young adult vampire genre that made Twilight Saga such a global hit, Reliance Entertainment and IM Global are co-financing the first installment of a new film franchise based on the six-volume Richelle Mead young adult novel series that will come to the screen as Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters. Daniel Waters, who wrote the iconic Sundance black comedy Heathers, has written the script for the first movie. His brother, Mean Girls helmer Mark Waters, will direct the film. Casting is in full swing for a summer shoot.

An international search led the producers to Zoey Deutch (Beautiful Creatures) and Australian newcomer Lucy Fry. They will play lead characters Rose and Lissa alongside Russian star Danila Kozlovski (We Are From The Future,) who will play the role of Dimitri.

The film will be produced by Michael Preger and his Preger Entertainment banner, Angry Films’ Don Murphy and Susan Montford, and Kintop Pictures’ Deepak Nayer. IM Global’s Stuart Ford is executive producer.

All six books have been bestsellers on The New York Times young adult list since the series debuted in 2007. Two of the books have been turned into graphic novels. The books tell the tale of Rose Hathaway, a 17-year-old girl who has a mental and spiritual bond with her vampire best friend Lissa. The two girls attend a special school for Vampires who struggle to retain some humanity while other Vampires become more feral.

“Tonally this so different from all these movies that are so solemn and serious,” IM Global’s Ford said. “This is as much Mean Girls as The Hunger Games. “It is snappy, irreverent, sexy and just a lot of fun. And we got the right director for that kind of movie.”

The Vampire Academy books were corralled as a film property by Miami-based Preger Entertainment. Preger is currently in development with a contemporized version of the sci-fi classic The Day Of The Triffids, with Sam Raimi and financier Good Universe. He brought the project to fellow Triffids producers Montford and  Murphy and the trio partnered to bring the books to the screen.

“I was a fan of Richelle’s and have read all of her books,” Preger said. “She writes in way that is riveting no matter what your age. The key was to get people to read the books. Once they read one they want to read them all.”

They turned to Daniel Waters, looking for a tone to which teenagers could relate. His script for Heathers hit that mark so well that it’s often identified as the inspiration for anything teen that aspires to mix humor with angst and edge. Waters took on the project, and drafted his brother, who boarded the project as director.

“It was the best first draft I had ever read, and that includes other screenplays by my brother,” Mark Waters said. “This is a dream project for us, since we have wanted to work together for so long. Richelle’s mythology and the world she creates is so real and her voice so clear. These kids have real life, modern day problems. And they drink blood.” The popularity of the series was evident when they started a Facebook page for the film and got 238,000 signed up, a number much higher than a lot of films that have already been released.

At that point, Nayer, who previously produced Bend It Like Beckham, brought in Reliance and IM Global. “On a creative level we love the story and the creative team,” he said. “We also love the potential to do a series of six strong movies based on this beloved series of novels” he said. There could even be more as Mead has spun off characters from her Vampire Academy books into a second series, Bloodlines, two of which have already been released.

Reliance will finance the film and sister company IM Global’s Ford is handling foreign sales and will broker domestic.

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Wanda, Reliance Plan Joint Ventures In Theater Business In India, U.S.: Reports

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Thursday December 13, 2012 @ 9:30pm PSTTags: Reliance, Wanda Group

Anil Ambani’s sprawling Indian conglomerate Reliance and China’s Wanda Group have announced plans to create long-term joint ventures in cinema exhibition in India and the United States, Reuters reports. Plans also call for Reliance and Wanda to build real estate projects in India involving a combined area of about 20 million square feet across a pair of locations in Navi Mumbai and Hyderabad. Wanda Group earlier this year became the world’s biggest owner of movie theaters when it acquired U.S. chain AMC Entertainment for $2.6 billion. It has about 1,000 screens in China and 5,890 in the U.S. from AMC. Wanda says it plans to spend $10 billion in North America over the next decade. Reliance currently operates 254 screens in India and 170 screens across the U.S., according to Film Business Asia. Reliance also has invested in DreamWorks Studios and has backed a 10-episode pirate project for NBC. Wanda Cinema Circuit was yesterday named Exhibitor of the Year at the annual CineAsia convention in Hong Kong. Reliance’s facilities and post-production unit Mediaworks recently partnered with China’s Galloping Horse to acquire the U.S. effects house Digital Domain. Mediaworks has a 30% stake and Galloping Horse 70%.
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UPDATE: Reliance Starts U.S. TV Production Company, Nears Drama Series Order At NBC

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday May 9, 2012 @ 11:23am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, NBC, Neil Cross, Reliance
Nellie Andreeva

Reliance Republic Of PiratesEXCLUSIVE UPDATED: So far, Reliance has been known in Hollywood for its film investments, primarily as financier of Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios. Now the Indian media giant is venturing into American television, backing a new 10-episode pirate series for NBC eyed for a March premiere, which will likely be announced at the network’s upfront presentation Monday. I’ve learned that NBC is finalizing a deal for a straight-to-series order to the period drama, which will be produced by Georgeville Television, an independent TV studio formed recently by producer and former Heyday Films executive Marc Rosen (Harry Potter), and Motion Picture Capital, the finance arm of Reliance Entertainment. GVTV, which has operated quietly for the past three months, has the capability to fully-finance major network and cable scripted series, with Republic Of Pirates being its first project.

Neil Cross Republic Of Pirates

Luther creator Neil Cross is nearing a deal to write the project and executive produce it with Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. The drama was originally set up at NBC last June under Parkes/MacDonald Prods’ first-look deal with the network. It became the first drama buy for then-new NBC chief Bob Greenblatt and his team last summer, with Jim Hart and Amanda Wells brought in to write it. Cross will now write the project under his recently inked overall deal with Universal TV. The series is based on the book The Republic Of Pirates by Colin Woodard. Set during the 10-year “Golden Age of Piracy” from 1715 to 1725, it follows some of the world’s most notorious pirates as they forge their own rogue nation, called New Providence, which became the first democracy in the Americas. Read More »

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BBC, Reliance Team Up For Three Movies

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday November 1, 2010 @ 10:05am PDTTags: BBC, Movie Deals, Movies, Reliance, Walking With Dinosaurs

BBC Earth and Reliance Big Entertainment will be partnering on a trio of film titles including the $65 million-budgeted Walking With Dinosaurs 3D, a continuation of the popular series that was first broadcast in 1999. The film will be co-directed by … Read More »

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Steven Spielberg Commits To Next Direct ‘Robopocalypse’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 22, 2010 @ 10:57am PDTTags: Book-to-Movie, Daniel H. Wilson, Movie Deals, Movies, Reliance, Robopocalypse, Steven Spielberg, Steven Spielberg Robopocalypse, Steven Spielberg War Horse, War Horse
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Steven Spielberg has committed to next direct Robopocalypse, a Drew Goddard-scripted adaptation of the Daniel H. Wilson epic novel about the human race’s attempt to survive an apocalyptic robot uprising. Deadline broke the story that Spielberg was eyeing … Read More »

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Spielberg’s ‘War Horse’ Man Signs With CAA

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday July 12, 2010 @ 9:00am PDTTags: Directors, Disney, DreamWorks, Reliance, Steven Spielberg, War Horse
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Here is what happens when Steven Spielberg plucks you out of obscurity to play the lead in his next film. Jeremy Irvine, who makes his feature film debut as the lead in the Spielberg-directed War Horse, has signed with Spielberg’s agency, CAA. Irvine began his career at The National … Read More »

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