You are viewing the archive: “Seth Grahame-Smith”

Warner Bros Makes 7-Figure Deal For Seth Grahame-Smith Novel ‘Unholy Night’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday December 1, 2011 @ 1:37pm PSTTags: David Heyman, David Katzenberg, Greg Silverman, Joe Eszterhas, Mel Gibson, Michael Green, Seth Grahame-Smith, Steven Spielberg, Stuart Hazeldine, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has made a whopping deal to acquire screen rights to Unholy Night, the new novel by Seth Grahame-Smith. Grahame-Smith will write the script, and he and KatzSmith partner David Katzenberg will produce with Heyday Films’ David Heyman and Jeffrey Clifford. I’ve heard that the deal is in the vicinity of $2 million upfront for the rights to the book and for Grahame-Smith to adapt it. The studio got first look at the book, as both KatzSmith and Heyday are based at Warner Bros. That is where Heyman produced the Harry Potter film series and where Grahame-Smith scripted the Tim Burton-directed Dark Shadows. Unholy Night, an action/adventure surrounding the Three Wise Men of the Nativity, will be published in April by Grand Central.

Setting up a film based around the birth of Jesus Christ gives Warner Bros its third high-profile movie based on a seminal religious story. The studio has been discussing the possibility of Steven Spielberg directing Gods And Kings, an epic-sized film about the life of Moses scripted by Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine. And Warner Bros recently set up a project being scripted by Joe Eszterhas and Mel Gibson (who has first option to direct) about the heroic story of Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee, who teamed with his father and four brothers to lead the Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that had conquered Judea in the second century B.C. Maccabee’s triumph and struggle against tyranny and oppression where people gave their lives so that others would be free to worship is celebrated by Jews all over the world through Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights. READ MORE »

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Craig Gillespie Exits Lionsgate’s ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday October 27, 2011 @ 7:04pm PDTTags: Craig Gillespie, David O. Russell, Jane Austen, Lionsgate, Mike White, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Craig Gillespie is exiting Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, becoming the latest filmmaker to walk away from the Lionsgate project. The screen adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel mixes the 1813 Jane Austen classic with a legion of bloodthirsty … Read More »

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KatzSmith Duo Makes First-Look Warner Bros Deal; Will Bring ‘Beetlejuice’ Back From Dead

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday September 6, 2011 @ 10:20am PDTTags: Alec Baldwin, Craig Gillespie, David Katzenberg, Greg Silverman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Johnny Depp, Michael Cera, Michael Keaton, Seth Grahame-Smith, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Winona Ryder
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: KatzSmith Productions partners David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith have just signed a two-year first-look feature producing deal at Warner Bros. While rights are still being worked out, one of their first projects is expected to be a sequel to … Read More »

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MTV Cancels ‘Hard Times Of RJ Berger’

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Friday August 12, 2011 @ 3:08pm PDTTags: David Katzenberg, MTV, Paul Iacono, Seth Grahame-Smith
Nellie Andreeva

It was the first of MTV’s new generation of scripted series. Now The Hard Times of RJ Berger has been canceled after two seasons, series co-creator Seth Grahame-Smith tweeted earlier today. The series, which Grahame-Smith co-created with … Read More »

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Fox Acquires Comedy Spec From Its ‘Abe Lincoln, Vampire Hunter’ Scribe

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday May 13, 2011 @ 3:52pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, David Katzenberg, Sale, Seth Grahame-Smith, spec script
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox has acquired the spec From Mia With Love, a John Hughes-style comedy written by Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg, Bryan Shukoff and Kevin Chesley. Katzenberg will direct, and he and Grahame-Smith will produce under their Katsmith Productions … Read More »

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Craig Gillespie Set To Direct ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday April 18, 2011 @ 11:26am PDTTags: Colin Farrell, Craig Gillespie, David O. Russell, Jane Austen, Mike White, Natalie Portman, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith
Mike Fleming

Lionsgate has made it official. Craig Gillespie has been set to direct Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the movie adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that mixes the 1813 Jane Austen classic with a legion of bloodthirsty zombies. Gillespie, who … Read More »

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‘World War Z’ With Brad Pitt And Marc Forster Regroups; Can It Beat Imminent Zombie Pic Infestation?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday March 29, 2011 @ 11:53am PDTTags: Brad Pitt, Danny Boyle, David Ellison, Jonah Hill, Marc Forster, Max Brooks, Michael Bay, Nicholas Hoult, Paramount Pictures, Robert Schwentke, Ryan Reynolds, Seth Grahame-Smith, Skydance, World War Z, Zach Galifianakis, Zack Snyder
Mike Fleming

While there have been reports that Paramount might kill World War Z because of a $125 million budget and no partners, I’m hearing that hot and heavy talks are going on with David Ellison’s Skydance and as many as two … Read More »

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Craig Gillespie Frontrunner For ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday February 8, 2011 @ 5:03pm PSTTags: Craig Gillespie, Lionsgate, Mike White, Movie Deals, Movies, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith
Mike Fleming

Fright Night director Craig Gillespie is front runner to direct Pride And Prejudice and Zombies, the Lionsgate adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel. No deal yet, Lionsgate says. Mike White had the job but  dropped out because of a scheduling … Read More »

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Honest Abe? Joaquin Phoenix Mulls Acting Return in Fox’s ‘Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday January 31, 2011 @ 7:28pm PSTTags: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Benjamin Walker, Jim Lemley, Joaquin Phoenix, Seth Grahame-Smith, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Joaquin Phoenix is the front-runner to play the mentor who teaches the 16th President how to kill bloodsuckers in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter for 20th Century Fox. Phoenix has met on the project and I’m told that it’s his … Read More »

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Actors Testing For Abe in ‘Vampire Hunter’

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday January 13, 2011 @ 12:38pm PSTTags: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Casting, Adrien Brody, Benjamin Walker, Jim Lemley, Josh Lucas, Movie Deals, Movies, Seth Grahame-Smith, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Twentieth Century Fox

EXCLUSIVE: There are few hotter projects in Hollywood right now than Twentieth Century Fox’s macabre 3D Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter based on the Seth Grahame-Smith novel (he also wrote the script) that will be directed by Timur Bekmambetov and produced by Timur, Tim Burton, and Jim Lemley. The studio has set a June 22, 2012 release for the film and has been focused on casting since November. Now we can tell you the list of actors who’ll be screentesting for the role of young Abe Lincoln this week and next: Benjamin Walker, James D’Arcy, Adrien Brody, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, and Josh Lucas. It’s a very interesting mix of semi-knowns and unknowns, stage and screen vets.

Twentieth won the project after a hard fought auction that included Sony and Paramount and Universal and Summit. Bekmambetov and Burton liked it so much they used their own money to option the book earlier this year, and Fox had existing relationships with both filmmakers – Timur dating back to when the studio talent-spotted him in Russia and released his first movie Night Watch worldwide. The movie is a 3D re-imagining of Lincoln’s life that depicts the 16th president as an axe-throwing, highly accomplished killer of vampires Read More »

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Mike White Sinks Teeth Into ‘Pride And Prejudice And Zombies’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday November 15, 2010 @ 2:13pm PSTTags: David O. Russell, Lionsgate, Mike White, Mike White Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Movie Deals, Movies, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, Pride Prejudice and Zombies Director, Seth Grahame-Smith
Mike Fleming

Lionsgate has closed a deal with Mike White to direct Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that spices up Jane Austen’s time-tested 1813 literary … Read More »

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EXCLUSIVE: Johnny Depp To Start ‘Dark Shadows’ In April With Tim Burton Directing

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday November 4, 2010 @ 12:38pm PDTTags: Dark Shadows, Grahame-Smith Dark Shadows, Johnny Depp, Movies, Seth Grahame-Smith, Tim Burton

It’s star Johnny Depp’s and Tim Burton’s hotly anticipated next collaboration and movie. Seth Grahame-Smith, who made his Hollywood entry writing novels that put a macabre twist to literary classics and historical figures, recently snagged the high profile job of writing the new draft of the 1960s gothic daytime serial featuring the juicy role of vampire Barnabas Collins whom Depp has had a long obsession wanting to play. The film has been slated to begin production in January but today was pushed back to April. Depp’s Infinitum Nihil and Graham King’s GK Films are producing along with Dick Zanuck. (It’s Zanuck’s 6th collaboration with Tim Burton.)

Warner Bros has been trying for several years to get to the starting line on this movie adaptation of the TV series that ran on ABC from 1966-1971 and had legions of fans frightened by the moody and atmospheric storyline. (Tim Burton May Push Back ‘Dark Shadows’ Start Date) Barnabas Collins (played by Jonathan Frid) was the central figure in the groundbreaking supernatural soap. Warner Bros purchased the film rights to the TV series from the estate of Dan Curtis (the creator, producer and director of Dark Shadows). As for Tim Burton’s version, John August was the first writer hired to script the project. Grahame-Smith got the job on the basis of his own bestselling novel, Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Read More »

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Fox Sets ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ For 2012

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 29, 2010 @ 12:07pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Jim Lemley, Movie Release Dates, Movies, Seth Grahame-Smith, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

20th Century Fox didn’t waste time after buying the screen package Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the Seth Grahame-Smith novel that will be directed by Timur Bekmambetov and produced by Timur, Tim Burton and Jim Lemley. The studio has set a June 22, 2012 release for the film, which has a … Read More »

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Seth Grahame-Smith On ‘Dark Shadows’ As Tim Burton Pic Gets Closer To Start Date With Johnny Depp As Vampire Barnabas

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday July 15, 2010 @ 8:53am PDTTags: Dark Shadows, GK Films, Grahame-Smith Dark Shadows, Horror, Johnny Depp, Johnny Depp Infinitum Nihil, Lionsgate, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Vampires, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

dark2 shadowsEXCLUSIVE: Seth Grahame-Smith, who made his Hollywood entry  writing novels that put a macabre twist to literary classics and historical figures, has just snagged the high profile job of writing the new draft of Dark Shadows. The Tim Burton-directed adaptation of … Read More »

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