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Warner Bros Sets Morten Tyldum To Helm ‘Ghostman’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 19, 2013 @ 4:16pm PDTTags: Ghostman, Kevin McCormick, Morten Tyldum, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has set Norwegian helmer Morten Tyldum to direct Ghostman, an adaptation of the bestselling Roger Hobbs novel. Tyldum is best known for directing an adaptation of the Jo Nesbo novel Headhunters, which led him to be hired to helm The Imitation Game, which Graham Moore wrote for Benedict Cumberbatch to star as Alan Turing. Peter Craig adapted Ghostman, a phrase that refers to a professional who cleans up messes and helps fugitives disappear. He is careful but gets sucked into a casino heist gone terribly wrong. His former mentor bankrolled the casino heist, which left several dead, and a crack addict in the wind with $1 million in cash that was supposed to pay off a drug debt. The Ghostman finds himself in a race over 48 hours to clean up the mess or his mentor will be in the cross hairs of a ruthless drug kingpin called The Wolf, and there is an attractive CIA agent in the center of things. The film’s being produced by Kevin McCormick’s Langley Park. Warner Bros bought the novel for McCormick last year. READ MORE »

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Zac Efron Thriller ‘The Falling’ Gets Jeremy Lott To Write

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 19, 2013 @ 4:15pm PDTTags: Akiva Goldsman, Jeremy Lott, The Falling, Warner Bros, Zac Efron
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has hired Jeremy Lott to write The Falling, a supernatural thriller that has Zac Efron attached to star. Akiva Goldsman and his Weed Road are producing with Safehouse’s Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell … Read More »

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Cillian Murphy Boards ‘In The Heart Of The Sea’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday June 19, 2013 @ 3:18pm PDTTags: Cillian Murphy, In The Heart Of The Sea, Ron Howard, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Cillian Murphy jas joined the cast of In The Heart Of The Sea, the Ron Howard-directed adaptation of the Nathaniel Philbrick book for Warner Bros and Village Roadshow Pictures. Brian Grazer is producing with Joe Roth, Paula Weinstein and … Read More »

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‘Dolphin Tale’ Sequel In Works, Release Date Set

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday June 18, 2013 @ 4:05pm PDTTags: Alcon Entertainment, Dolphin Tale 2, Warner Bros

Alcon Entertainment‘s Dolphin Tale grossed $95.4M worldwide when it was released in September 2011, and now the producer-financier is close to diving in for a sequel. Charles Martin Smith, who directed the first pic, is set to helm … Read More »

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‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, Guillermo Del Toro Says

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday June 18, 2013 @ 1:05pm PDTTags: Guillermo Del Toro, Legendary Pictures, Pacific Rim, Warner Bros

Guillermo Del Toro Pacific Rim Sequel“We’re been talking about the idea for it and working on a pitch,” said Guillermo del Toro today about a Pacific Rim sequel. “And there will be a Mexican Jaeger,” he … Read More »

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Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: Thomas Tull Says Making Decision Within Next 60 Days

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday June 18, 2013 @ 11:45am PDTTags: Legendary Pictures, Thomas Tull, Warner Bros

Legendary Pictures boss Thomas Tull said today that he expects to have a decision in “the next 60 days, the end of the summer” on whether his company will renew its production deal with Warner Bros or move to another studio. “We’re going through a process and we’re talking to everyone, including [Warner Bros]; it’s a process that is big in scope,” Tull said diplomatically during a show-and-tell media session in Hollywood. “If we end up staying with them, great. If it turns out it’s time for a new chapter, I will be grateful for our time with them”. As for a prospective new home, Tull said: “We’ve got it down to a handful, but I don’t want to disrespect anyone by saying who yet.” Tull and Legendary have been with Warner Bros for 10 years, teaming on such lucrative pics as Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise, The Hangover movies and the latest Superman reboot Man Of Steel. Tull indicated that regardless of the outcome, the company wanted more independence. “Developing and owning our own stuff has been part of our plan for a while,” the Legendary CEO said. Read More »

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‘Bioshock’ Creator Ken Levine Takes On ‘Logan’s Run’ Script For Warner Bros

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday June 18, 2013 @ 10:08am PDTTags: Ken Levine, Logan's Run, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: If you’ve grown weary waiting for the Logan’s Run remake because of all the talent that has fallen in and out, here’s news that will give the languishing film a jolt. Warner Bros has tapped Ken Levine, creator of the Bioshock video game franchise, to write the screenplay for a remake of the 1976 cult classic science fiction film. Jon Berg is overseeing it for the studio.

Levine began his career as a screenwriter and a playwright before he became one of the most influential figures in the video game industry. He’s making a rare appearance outside of video games because Logan’s Run has been such a passion project for him.

The film was based on the 1967 book by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, about a dystopian society set in the year 2116 in which all people must be willingly executed at age 21 as a means of population control. Those who try to escape their fate are called “runners.” In the 1976 Michael Anderson-directed film that starred Michael York as Logan 5, the maximum age is 30 and the setting is post-apocalyptic earth in which all humans live inside a huge domed city. The studio has been trying for a long time to get this remake made, and it has been developed by the likes of X-Men helmer Bryan Singer, and more recently Nicolas Winding Refn looked at it as a re-team with Ryan Gosling. A fresh take might be just what the project needs. Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘300: Rise Of An Empire’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday June 12, 2013 @ 5:14pm PDTTags: 300: Rise Of An Empire, Legendary, Warner Bros, Zack Snyder

Warner Bros has posted the first trailer for the long-awaited sequel to the stylish 2006 hit, though it isn’t coming out until March 7. In 300: Rise Of An Empire, Persian queen Artemisia (Eva Green) uses her “entire navy” to attack the Greeks, who are led by politician … Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday June 11, 2013 @ 10:18am PDTTags: MGM, Peter Jackson, The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, Warner Bros

The sequel to Peter Jackson‘s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is due out December 13 from Warner Bros, the second of three MGM- and Warners-produced movies adapted from JRR Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings prequel novel. Here’s the first look at the The Desolation Of Smaug, which … Read More »

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Clint Eastwood Eyes Stage Talent For ‘Jersey Boys’ Movie At Warner Bros

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday June 10, 2013 @ 4:24pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Clint Eastwood, Frankie Valli, Jersey Boys, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Don’t be surprised if Clint Eastwood is asked to host next year’s Tony Awards; he’s positioning himself to be that popular with the legit crowd. Eastwood is prepping to direct the movie version of Jersey Boys for Warner Bros. Instead of the Hollywood tradition of chasing screen stars, I’m told Eastwood is looking to cast the main role in the movie with the actors who are onstage every night in the various Jersey Boys stage shows all around the world.

It might give Sue Kroll a marketing challenge, but if he goes through with it, Eastwood certainly will deliver to Warner Bros a reasonably priced movie. Production on the film will start at the end of August on the Warner Bros lot. It is produced by Graham King and Rob Lorenz, with Valli and Bob Gaudio serving as executive producers. Read More »

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‘The Conjuring’ To Debut At LA Film Fest

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 10, 2013 @ 1:01pm PDTTags: Los Angeles Film Festival, The Conjuring, Warner Bros

New Line‘s July horror pic will unspool a month ahead of its nationwide release at the 2013 LA Film Festival. The James Wan-directed pic starring Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Ron Livingston, … Read More »

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Warner Bros Buys ‘Rasputin’ Pitch That Jason Hall Will Write For Leonardo DiCaprio

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday June 7, 2013 @ 1:30pm PDTTags: Jason Hall, Leonardo DiCaprio, Rasputin, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has acquired Rasputin, a pitch by American Sniper scribe Jason Hall that will be developed for Leonardo DiCaprio to play the Russian mystic who became an advisor to the Russian Imperial family the Romanovs. … Read More »

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Denzel Washington Eyes Killer Role In Warner Bros ‘Shovel Ready’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday June 6, 2013 @ 12:26pm PDTTags: Denzel Washington, Erwin Stoff, Shovel Ready, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Denzel Washington is in early talks to star in Shovel Ready, a Warner Bros adaptation of a debut novel by journalist Adam Sternbergh. Erwin Stoff is the producer. In a bombed-out, near future … Read More »

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Hot Trailer: ‘Getaway’

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday June 5, 2013 @ 5:54pm PDTTags: Ethan Hawke, Getaway, Selena Gomez, Warner Bros

Warner Bros. and Dark Castle Entertainment close out the summer with Getaway, an action thriller starring Ethan Hawke as an ex-race car driver who commandeers a Shelby Cobra Mustang and its owner (Selena Gomez) in order to save his kidnapped wife. Courtney Solomon directed … Read More »

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How Jason Hall Went From Struggling Actor To Hot Screenwriter With ‘American Sniper’ And Two More Big Deals Coming

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday June 4, 2013 @ 1:57pm PDTTags: American Sniper, Big Deals Film, Bradley Cooper, Chris Kyle, DreamWorks, Jason Hall, Steven Spielberg, Warner Bros
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Jason Hall was marked an A-list screenwriter the moment DreamWorks and Warner Bros joined forces after Steven Spielberg agreed to direct Bradley Cooper in American Sniper, based on the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. Not surprisingly, both studios want more from Hall. Warner Bros has just closed a blind script deal with him, and I’ve learned that DreamWorks is in early talks to have Hall adapt the upcoming David Finkel book Thank You For Your Service, about the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder syndrome that is becoming a major issue for vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s something Spielberg likes as a potential project down the line, though that is all early days.

I sought out Hall because I find it instructive to see how a guy with one screen credit (2009′s Spread) and another coming (an adaption of the Joseph Finder novel Paranoia) gets white-hot so quickly. Every writer’s trajectory is different, but there’s a common thread: there is no such thing as an overnight success screenwriter. It’s years of struggle to find a voice, and then maybe a lucky break. Hall came to Hollywood to be an actor, and only found his way to screenwriting because things were going so badly. “I did TV parts in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and other shows, playing the bad guy or the MacGuffin bad guy, with the half-baked mustache,” Hall told me. “I would read these terrible movie scripts, and I couldn’t get auditions. I thought, maybe I could write a terrible script for myself, but they wouldn’t even let me audition when I did that. My first script, I remember this funny lawyer telling me I was getting more than Ben and Matt did at the beginning. This producer says, I know you want to act in this, but what if I told you Milos Forman wanted to direct this, with someone else?” Still in full actor mode, Hall was direct: “I remember being in the lobby of The Four Seasons, and saying a little too loud, ‘Milos Forman can go fuck himself!’ So that went away, and then I wrote another script about a blind wrestler. I wrestled since I was a kid, and there are these great blind wrestlers who compete up to nationals. I’ve wrestled them, and you have to keep your hands on them at all times, and if you separate the ref blows the whistle and connects you again. Some of these guys are really good. So I’m ready to play this blind wrestler, and John Dahl is interested and says to me, this is perfect for Matt Damon. And I said, ‘Matt Damon can go fuck himself!’ And that went away.” Read More »

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WB To Fete ‘Wizard Of Oz’ 75th Anniversary With IMAX 3D Release

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday June 4, 2013 @ 10:00am PDTTags: The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros, Warner Home Video

The Wizard Of Oz is getting a major brand revitalization this fall. The Technicolor classic will return to screens on September 20 for an exclusive one-week IMAX 3D engagement commemorating its 75th … Read More »

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‘Man Of Steel’ Will Land In China Within A Week Of Its US Release

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 3, 2013 @ 10:11pm PDTTags: Henry Cavill, Man of Steel, Warner Bros, Zack Snyder

Warner Bros‘ highflying Superman reboot will open June 20 in the world’s most populous country, a China Film Group subsidiary said today. Man Of Steel, the superhero tentpole starring Henry Cavill in the … Read More »

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It’s Official: Chris Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ Coming November 7, 2014

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Monday June 3, 2013 @ 8:43am PDTTags: Almanac, Christopher Nolan, Interstellar, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros

UPDATED: Paramount Pictures has officially found a slot for Interstellar, the next movie from Christopher Nolan: It will be released on November 7, 2014, smack in the middle of awards season. The date first mentioned when Paramount and Warner Bros announced a rare tie-up to co-produce the sci-fi pic. The cast has been shaping up for a while, with Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Nolan regular Michael Caine already aboard. Nolan and Emma Thomas are producing with Lynda Obst, and Jordan Goldberg is exec producing. Obst commissioned the original treatment and Steven Spielberg came aboard in 2006, when Paramount owned DreamWorks and after the filmmaker became intrigued by Caltech physicist and relativity expert Kip S. Thorne and his scientific theory that wormholes exist and can be used for time travel. Spielberg set Jonah Nolan to write the script, which made it easy for Christopher Nolan to come aboard after Spielberg left the project. The ambition is that Interstellar will depict a heroic voyage to the farthest borders of our scientific understanding. There is one other film that has set that date: Disney’s 3D-animated Big Hero 6, based on the Marvel comic property.

Related: Matthew McConaughey Confirms He’ll Star In ‘Interstellar’ Read More »

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Hot Clip: ‘Pacific Rim’ Featurette

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday May 31, 2013 @ 4:14pm PDTTags: Guillermo Del Toro, Legendary Pictures, Pacific Rim, Warner Bros

“To fight monsters, we created monsters” – so goes the tagline for Guillermo del Toro’s summer tentpole for Warner Bros. A new 4-minute Pacific Rim featurette gives viewers a look inside the massive robots deployed to battle the kaijus that have emerged from the sea in the … Read More »

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