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Walden Media Sets Joe Ballarini To Script ‘Atlantis 7′ For Dean Parisot

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday May 23, 2012 @ 12:52pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Dean Parisot, Joe Ballarini, Walden Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Joe Ballarini has been set by Walden Media to rewrite Atlantis 7, a thriller in which an elite military Navy SEAL force attempts to find the mythical city of Atlantis. A military code breaker seeks out his absentee father, who may hold the secret to unlock the clues that make an Atlantis discovery possible, which is key to saving the world. Dean Parisot is attached to direct, and Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps is producing with The Gotham Group. Adam F. Goldberg wrote the first draft adaptation of M. Zachary Sherman’s graphic novel Seal Team 7 and Robert Nelson Jacobs did a rewrite.

Ballarini sold the spec Lockdown At Franklin High to Sony, and has been a steady writer at Fox Animation on such films as Ice Age 4, Leafmen and others. He also scripted The Resident for producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney and Turbo at DreamWorks. Ballarini is repped by Paradigm and Apostle’s George Heller. Pic gives Walden Media another large scale adventure film after Journey 2: The Mysterious Island grossed over $300 million worldwide.

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Walden Media Sets Jonathan Helfgot For Marketing Post

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday April 10, 2012 @ 1:13pm PDTTags: Walden Media
Mike Fleming

(Los Angeles – April 10, 2012) – Jonathan Helfgot has been named Executive Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Walden Media, as announced by Anschutz Film Group CEO David Weil. In his new role, Helfgot will

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Walden Media Acquires Gordon Korman Novel ‘Ungifted’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday December 5, 2011 @ 10:49am PSTTags: Aaron Schneider, Curtis Hanson, Gerard Butler, Jennifer Lopez, Jonny Weston, Michael Apted, Michael Bostick, Walden Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Walden Media has optioned screen rights to Ungifted, a Gordon Korman novel that will be published fall 2012 through the Balzer + Bray imprint of HarperCollins. Korman is the author of two installments of the 39 Clues series that … Read More »

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Walden Media And Jennifer Lopez Team Up On ‘Carmen Sandiego’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday November 3, 2011 @ 3:02pm PDTTags: Benny Medina, Jennifer Lopez, Michael Bostick, Trevor Engelson, Walden Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Walden Media has acquired rights to turn Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? into a live-action film involving Jennifer Lopez. I’d heard that Walden Media will develop the property as a vehicle for Lopez to play the title character, but Walden Media said at this point, she’s attached to produce only. The hope is to turn the property into National Treasure meets The Thomas Crown Affair. The logline: When the ACME agency’s greatest detective Carmen Sandiego becomes the world’s greatest thief, it’s up to her former partner to follow her clues and track her down. Their cat-and-mouse game leads the partner to confront a greater mystery: Is Carmen really a thief or a hero? The property originated as an educational computer game before it was turned into an animated TV series.

The film will be produced by Lopez and her Nuyorican Productions’ partners Benny Medina and Simon Fields, and Underground Films’ Nick Osbourne, Trevor Engelson and Devin Andre. Walden Media CEO Michael Bostick and SVP Evan Turner are steering the property after it was acquired from Hougton Mifflin. The property fits into Walden Media’s mandate to create properties that challenge kids; Carmen Sandiego is used as a teaching tool in more than half of elementary schools nationwide. The project tried the movie route once before; Disney optioned it in the late 1990s and developed a version for Sandra Bullock, but it never went anywhere. Read More »

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Walden Media Acquires ‘Flat Stanley’ Books

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday August 9, 2011 @ 1:37pm PDTTags: Clint Eastwood, Jon Stewart, Michael Bostick, President Obama, Walden Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Walden Media has acquired film rights to Flat Stanley, the series of children’s books created in 1964 by Jeff Brown about the adventures of a two-dimensional person stuck in a 3D world. The plan is to shoot the film live action, using visual effects to turn the lead character into a one-dimensional hero (why do I feel like I’ve given Deadline commenters a wealth of ammunition to discuss the current state of 3D and certain leading actors with those last two sentences?)

The protagonist is Stanley Lambchop, who, after being given a bulletin board by his father to put above his bed, is flattened by it in the night. He’s OK despite his appearance and can slip under doors and entertain his brother by posing as a kite. He even solves an art heist by posing as a wall painting. The series has sold millions of copies around the world. The film will be produced by John Carls and his Wild Things Productions banner. Carls’ credits include Where The Wild Things Are as well as Rango. Walden Media CEO Michael Bostick and senior veep Evan Turner set up the project and are meeting with filmmakers for the adaptation. Read More »

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Walden Media Set To Co-Finance Louis Zamperini Film ‘Unbroken’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday June 2, 2011 @ 11:30am PDTTags: Erwin Stoff, Francis Lawrence, Laura Hillenbrand, Louis Zamperini, Matthew Baer, Mick Garris, Walden Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: After more than 54 years of trying, Universal Pictures is getting closer and closer to telling the unbelievable story of Olympian-turned-WWII POW Louis Zamperini in a feature film. Walden Media has just signed on to co-finance with Universal Pictures the screen adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s bestseller Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. The Water for Elephants team of screenwriter Richard LaGravenese and director Francis Lawrence are prepping the story about the unbreakable spirit of Zamperini, the former Olympic track prodigy who endured unimaginable hardship as a WWII POW at the hands of Japanese prison guards. Matthew Baer and Erwin Stoff are producing; Lawrence and Mick Garris are exec producers.

Universal bought Zamperini’s rights back in the 1950s, when Tony Curtis planned to play him right after he completed Spartacus. Zamperini, still kicking at age 93, has waited all this time to see his story turned into a feature film. Baer has been pushing the ball up the hill for more than a decade, but it turned out that the best thing to happen to the project was Hillenbrand’s book, which has drawn a fresh audience to Zamperini’s story of perseverence. Universal previously turned Hillenbrand’s Seabiscuit into the Gary Ross-directed hit. In book form, Unbroken blew past Seabiscuit‘s sales figures in its first four weeks, and has been at or near the top of The New York Times bestseller list since its publication six months ago. Read More »

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Maggie Gyllenhaal And Viola Davis Lead Walden’s ‘Still I Rise’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday May 10, 2011 @ 8:03am PDTTags: Daniel Barnz, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mark Johnson, Michael Bostick, Tanya Wexler, Viola Davis, Walden Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Walden Media has has set a May 23 start in Pittsburgh on Still I Rise, the working title of a drama that will star Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis. Daniel Barnz, who most recently directed Beastly, will helm the … Read More »

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Berlin: Gerard Butler Set For Walden Media Surf Pic ‘Mavericks’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday February 11, 2011 @ 12:21pm PSTTags: Brandon Hooper, Curtis Hanson, Gerard Butler, Kario Salem, Marc Forster, Walden Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Gerard Butler has been set to star in Mavericks, the Curtis Hanson-directed fact-based drama for Walden Media. The film is based on the true story of Santa Cruz surf phenom Jay Moriarity and his quest to ride the treacherous … Read More »

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Walden Media Acquires Young Adult Series ‘Simon Bloom: Gravity Keeper’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday January 14, 2011 @ 11:17am PSTTags: Adam F. Goldberg, Movie Deals, Movies, Walden Media, Walden Media Simon Bloom
Mike Fleming

Walden Media has picked up rights to Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper, and has hired Adam F. Goldberg to write the script. Goldberg’s best known for Fanboys and Aliens in the Attic.  The young adult series by Michael Reisman is … Read More »

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Fox, Walden Media Win ‘The Family Circus’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday October 8, 2010 @ 3:48pm PDTTags: 20th Century Fox, John Baldecchi, Movie Deals, Movies, Walden Media
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox has teamed with Walden Media to buy rights to Bil Keane’s venerable syndicated comic strip The Family Circus, and they’ve hired Bob Hilgenberg & Rob Muir to script a live action feature. John Baldecchi and Stacy Maes are producing. Bil Keane started the strip in 1960 and continues to generate the single-panel script with his son Jeff. It is the most widely syndicated strip in the world, according to King Features. A number of studios competed for the rights for what is envisioned as a multiple quadrant family franchise. Though several members of the Keane clan have become film animators, Bil Keane resisted making a film deal all these years. Producer Baldecchi spent two years trying to track them down. He got Keane’s number, but never had his messages returned. One day, Baldecchi called and Keane picked up the phone. He made enough of an impression that Keane introduced the producer to his son Jeff. Soon they had an agreement to move forward and then studios got involved. I’m told the deal was six figures against seven-figures and went to Fox and Walden, which are partnered in the upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Read More »

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TOLDJA! Walden Media Has New Co-CEO

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday March 25, 2008 @ 7:56am PDTTags: Michael Bostick, Producers, Universal Pictures, Walden Media

walden.jpg

UPDATE: The announcement came through today.

Previous: Sources are telling me that film producer Michael Bostick will be announced as the new Co-CEO of Walden Media today, working with CEO Cary Granat who actively recruited his longtime pal. Bostick has long been director Tom Shadyac’s … Read More »

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