You are viewing the archive: “Timur Bekmambetov”

Black List Script ‘The Current War’ Bought By Timur Bekmambetov To Helm

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday May 3, 2012 @ 10:18am PDTTags: 2011 Black List, Big Deals Film, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

Timur Bekmenbetov The Current BREAKING: Timur Bekmambetov’s Bazelevs has acquired the 2011 Black List script The Current War scripted by Michael Mitnick. Bekmambetov acquired it to direct. He most recently wrapped Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which Fox releases June 22. Mitnick is currently writing the libretto for the Broadway-bound stage musical adaptation of the 1978 film Animal House.

The Current War chronicles the true-life public battle fought between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse for domination of the early power industry. Bazelevs’ President of Development Michele Wolkoff will oversee the project for Bazelevs. The project was brought in to the company by Bazelevs’ creative exec Alan Khamoui. Bazelevs will fund it through its development fund, similar to the way Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter got put together.

Steve Zaillian and Garrett Basch will executive produce through Film Rites. Mitnick’s latest play Ed, Downloaded, will premiere at the Denver Center in 2013. His last play, Sex Lives Of Our Parents, was presented by Second Stage Theatre in NYC. Mitnick is repped by WME and Jeff Silver at Fourth Floor Productions. Bekmambetov is repped by WME.

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Russian & Chinese Filmmakers Plan Remake Of ‘Yolki’ (Six Degrees Of Celebration)

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday December 22, 2011 @ 4:54pm PSTTags: Eva Jin, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In one of the first partnerships of its kind, Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov is teaming with Chinese filmmaker Eva Jin (Sophie’s Revenge) on a Russian/Chinese remake of Yolki (Six Degrees of Celebration). They will be among several filmmakers who’ll … Read More »

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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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Tim Burton Circles ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday November 15, 2011 @ 9:08am PSTTags: Chernin Entertainment, Dylan Clark, Fox, Jenno Topping, Johnny Depp, Peter Chernin, Ransom Riggs, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: In a match that seems ideal, Tim Burton is in early talks to come aboard Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, the Ransom Riggs novel that 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment acquired last spring. Burton is in talks to develop the book as a potential directing project, and he would be involved in setting a writer to adapt the tale.

It involves Jacob, a 16-year-old whose childhood was filled with stories his grandfather told him about an orphanage for unusual children. Among the residents: a girl who could hold fire in her hands, another whose feet never touched the ground, and twins who communicated without speaking. When his beloved grandfather dies unexpectedly but leaves a message behind for his grandson, the teen heads off to his grandfather’s home on an isolated island off Wales. There he discovers the abandoned remains of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. It is in great disrepair and as Jacob explores its bedrooms and hallways, he can see the children were more than peculiar, they might have been there because they were dangerous. And he can’t shake the feeling they are still lurking around. Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark and Jenno Topping are producing. 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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Walking Dead Spec ‘Maggie’ Back On Market

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday April 11, 2011 @ 4:46pm PDTTags: Henry Hobson, John Scott 3, Maggie, Movie Deals, Movies, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

Maggie, the John Scott 3-penned spec script about the six-week metamorphosis of a 16-year-old teenage girl into a zombie, is back on the market. The spec was close to a deal with Timur Bekmambetov (I’d heard it closed), but … Read More »

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Inventive Zombie Spec ‘Maggie’ Acquired By Timur Bekmambetov

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday March 31, 2011 @ 7:58pm PDTTags: Danny Boyle, Henry Hobson, John Scott 3, Maggie, Timur Bekmambetov, Verve
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Timur Bekmambetov has won a spec auction for Maggie, a script that sparked a spirited auction today, with six bidders. Bekmambetov will produce a film that has a script by John Scott 3, and vfx wiz Henry Hobson set … Read More »

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Paramount Buys Sci-Fi Thriller Pitch From ‘Apollo 18′ Scribe

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday March 16, 2011 @ 6:09pm PDTTags: Brad Weston, Paramount Pictures, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures has acquired an untitled science fiction thriller pitch that will be written by Brian Miller. He’s the scribe whose writing sample won a contest held by Timur Bekmambetov. That script turned into Apollo 18, the Dimension Films “found footage” pic that opens April 22. Brad Weston will … Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘Apollo 18′

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Saturday February 19, 2011 @ 7:41am PSTTags: Apollo 18, Dimension Films, Movie Trailers, Movies, Timur Bekmambetov, Video
Mike Fleming

Dimension Films has released a new trailer for Apollo 18, the latest fright film based on “found footage,” this one purporting to be a record of a NASA moon mission that was officially scrapped. Timur Bekmambetov produced it:

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Scoot McNairy Lands ‘Cogan’s Trade’ Lead, In Contention For Other Good Jobs

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday February 16, 2011 @ 6:21pm PSTTags: Andrew Dominik, Brad Pitt, Cogan's Trade, Cogan's Trade Casting, Monsters, Movie Deals, Movies, Ridley Scott, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

For a $200,000 movie, Monsters has created quite a trajectory for its director and star. After Gareth Edwards got the job directing Legendary Pictures’ Godzilla, star Scoot McNairy has landed a lead alongside Brad Pitt and a great supporting cast … Read More »

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Anthony Mackie And Dominic Cooper Staking Out ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday February 10, 2011 @ 1:15pm PSTTags: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Anthony Mackie, Benjamin Walker, Buddy Bolden, Dan Pritzker, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: Fox is negotiating with The Devil’s Double star Dominic Cooper to play Abe Lincoln’s mentor Henry, the mysterious ageless guy who teaches Abe to kill bloodsuckers. The studio had been in talks with Joaquin Phoenix for … Read More »

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Fox And James Cameron Tap Shawn Levy For 3D ‘Fantastic Voyage’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday February 7, 2011 @ 7:43am PSTTags: 20th Century Fox, Darren Aronofsky, Deadliest Warrior, Fantastic Voyage, James Cameron, Laeta Kalogridis, Louis Leterrier, Movie Deals, Movies, Paul Greengrass, Shane Salerno, Shawn Levy, Spike TV, Steve Carell, Timur Bekmambetov, Tina Fey
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox has set Shawn Levy to direct Fantastic Voyage, the James Cameron-produced 3D tent pole film. I’m told that Levy has boarded the re-imagining of the 1966 original about a team of scientists shrunk into a ship … 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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Ben Walker Set For Lead Of ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday January 27, 2011 @ 6:26pm PSTTags: 20th Century Fox, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Casting, Fox, Movie Deals, Movies, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

Ben Walker has been set by Timur Bekmambetov to play the lead role in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, the 20th Century Fox adaptation of the Seth Graham-Smith novel that’s being produced by Bekmambetov, Tim Burton and Jim Lemley. Deal was … 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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Weinsteins Land Timur Bekmambetov’s Surprise Alien Pic ‘Apollo 18′

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Saturday November 6, 2010 @ 9:18am PDTTags: AFM, AFM Deals, American Film Market, Apollo 18, Apollo 18 Rights, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Movie Deals, Movies, The Weinstein Co, Timur Bekmambetov, Timur Bekmambetov Apollo 18
Mike Fleming

UPDATE: I’m told that WME client Trevor Caewood is directing Apollo 18, and that 3 Arts/CAA client Brian Miller wrote the script. So Timur Bekmambetov is producing only.

EXCLUSIVE: … Read More »

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20th Century Fox Buys Deep Space Pitch With Director Timur Bekmambetov Orbiting

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday November 5, 2010 @ 5:05pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, Mike Finch, Movie Deals, Movies, Timur Bekmambetov
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox has closed a high six-figures pitch deal for Alex Litvak & Mike Finch to write an untitled secret project that’s an action thriller set in deep space. I’m told that Timur Bekmambetov is circling the project, though he might well wait until a script is written … 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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Fox Wins Macabre ‘Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ Film Project After Trying Bloody Hard

By NIKKI FINKE AND MIKE FLEMING JR | Saturday October 2, 2010 @ 4:30pm PDTTags: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Jim Gianopulos, Movies, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Tom Rothman

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: After a hard fought auction that included Sony and Paramount and Universal and Summit, Twentieth Century Fox has emerged the victor for the hottest project in Hollywood right now: the live-action adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith macabre … Read More »

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