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Working Title Partners Tim Bevan And Eric Fellner Re-Up At Universal Through 2015

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday April 27, 2012 @ 11:57am PDTTags: Eric Fellner, Les Miserables, Tim Bevan, Universal Pictures, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has re-upped Working Title Films partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner through 2015. This comes after the studio re-upped Imagine Entertainment in January, keeping the studio’s most tenured production companies in the fold. Like Universal chairman Adam Fogelson and co-chairman Donna Langley did with Imagine, Working Title’s deal has been scaled back; instead of exclusive, it is now a first-look deal. The Working Title pact was due to expire next year. Working Title’s films at the studio have grossed $4.25 billion since they began with Universal in 1999, and Bevan and Fellner bring a British sensibility and a supply of prestige to the studio. The re-up comes at a time when Working Title will release two high profile awards season films in late 2012: the Tom Hooper-directed Les Miserables, and the Joe Wright-directed Anna Karenina, the latter of which will be released by Focus Features.

“Working Title has been an invaluable partner for Universal with our two companies enjoying tremendous success on films that have delighted audiences all over the world,” Fogelson and Langley said. “Tim and Eric are true leaders in the global production space which gives us more of an opportunity to be in business with some of the best international talent and we’re thrilled to be extending our partnership.”

Said Bevan and Fellner, “We are delighted to be continuing our relationship with our friends at Universal. It has been a long and fruitful relationship and we are very much looking forward to more successes over the coming years.”

Hooper, who last directed The King’s Speech, has just gotten underway with Les Misérables, the musical that stars Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Sasha Baron Cohen, Amanda Seyfried and Helena Bonham Carter. Bevan and Fellner are producing with Cameron MacKintosh. Working Title is partnered with Imagine and Revolution on Rush, the Ron Howard-directed rivalry between Formula 1 champions Niki Lauda and James Hunt, based on a Peter Morgan script. That film is shooting, as is Closed, the John Crowley-directed film that stars Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall.

Working Title wrapped Anna Karenina, which stars Keira Knightley, Jude Law and Aaron Johnson. Working Title continues to develop Bridget Jones’s Baby, which has director Peter Cattaneo attached to direct and Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant poised to return, once they get the script right.

Recent Working Title have included Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy, Billy Elliot, Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, Frost/Nixon, Elizabeth, The Golden Age, Fargo, Burn After Reading, Notting Hill, O Brother Where art Thou, About a Boy, Love Actually, The Interpreter, Mr. Bean’s Holiday, as well as the Nanny Mcphee, Johnny English and Bridget Jones franchises. Working Title’s latest release was the Mark Wahlberg-starrer Contraband.

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Peter Cattaneo In Talks To Direct ‘Bridget Jones’s Baby’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday November 30, 2011 @ 12:33pm PSTTags: Bridget Jones's Baby, Colin Firth, Eric Fellner, Hugh Grant, Paul Feig, Peter Cattaneo, Renee Zellweger, Tim Bevan, Universal Pictures, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: The Full Monty helmer Peter Cattaneo is in talks to direct Bridget Jones’s Baby, the Universal Pictures/Working Title sequel that brings back Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. Shooting begins early next year. The directing assignment has been … Read More »

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Working Title Television Sells 6 Projects

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Wednesday November 16, 2011 @ 11:23am PSTTags: Eric Fellner, NBC Universal International, Tim Bevan, Working Title Films
Nellie Andreeva

In its second full development cycle, Working Title Television has sold six series projects in broadcast and cable. This is the largest slate in the 21-month history of the TV production company, a joint venture between NBCUniversal International and Working Title Films’ Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner that in July tapped Daniel Pipski as its new head. Four of Working Title TV’s six projects are at NBC and Universal Television, which have a first-look deal with the company through the joint venture arrangement: dramas We, The Potters written by David Sussman, McMafia written by Matt Johnson & John Turman and Gypsy Tea Room written by Chris Monger, and comedy My Nuclear Family penned by Lucy Dahl. Universal TV also produces The Outside Man, a light drama Working Title TV has in the works at NBCU’s flagship cable network USA with Matt Johnson and John Turman writing. The company’s remaining project, thriller drama Off The Grid, was set up at ABC before the recent relaunch of the former NBC production arm as a full-fledged studio producing for all networks, so it will be shepherded through ABC Studios. Read More »

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Anne Hathaway Joins Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe In ‘Les Miserables’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday October 18, 2011 @ 8:44am PDTTags: Anne Hathaway, Cameron Mackintosh, Chris Nolan, Debra Hayward, Eric Fellner, Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables, Russell Crowe, Tim Bevan, Tom Hooper, Universal Pictures, William Nicholson, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Anne Hathaway has closed a deal to join Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe in Les Miserables, the Universal Pictures and Working Title Films musical adaptation of the stage play and classic novel. Hathaway will play Fantine, and her participation … Read More »

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Paul Feig Exits ‘Bridget Jones 3′; Universal Looking For Brit Director For January Start

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday October 4, 2011 @ 12:49pm PDTTags: Bridesmaids, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Jon Hamm, Judd Apatow, Melissa McCarthy, Paul Feig, Renee Zellweger, Universal Pictures, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures and Working Title Films will need a new director for Bridget Jones 3, and I hear they want a Brit. Paul Feig has withdrawn after developing the most recent draft of the script with the intention to direct. I’m told that both sides agreed it didn’t work out and that maybe this is just a quintessential British comedy that needs a British sensibility. They will set a director soon as they are still slated to start production in January, with Renee Zellweger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant all eager to return.

Feig has enough to keep him busy at Universal, where he just directed the sleeper hit Bridesmaids. He’s got two projects there including an untitled comedy that he’s writing to direct for producer Judd Apatow, with the hope that Jon Hamm will play a guy obsessed with a woman who’ll be played by Melissa McCarthy. That certainly puts much of the Bridesmaids team together, and it will have to do until the studio figures out a way to get moving on a Bridesmaids sequel after the first one grossed $286 million worldwide on a $32 million budget. Read More »

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Daniel Pipski Tapped As New Head Of Working Title Television

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday July 5, 2011 @ 2:50pm PDTTags: Eric Fellner, NBCUniversal International, Tim Bevan, Working Title Films
Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: Daniel Pipski has been named head of Working Title Television, the joint venture between NBCUniversal International and U.K.-based Working Title Films’ Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. He replaces Shelley McCrory, who had served as Working Title TV president since … Read More »

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‘King’s Speech’ Helmer Tom Hooper Closing On ‘Les Miserables’ As Next Pic

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday March 24, 2011 @ 6:26pm PDTTags: Cameron Mackintosh, Eric Fellner, Les Miserables, The King's Speech, Tim Bevan, Tom Hooper, Universal Pictures, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

BREAKING: Looks like Universal Pictures has won the battle for the next film to be directed by Oscar-winning The King’s Speech helmer Tom Hooper. The dealmaking has started for Hooper to direct Les Miserables, a full-blown musical adaptation of the … Read More »

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Universal Acquires Hot Berlin Title ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’ With Oscar Winner Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday February 28, 2011 @ 11:02am PSTTags: Ciaran Hinds, Colin Firth, Eric Fellner, Gary Oldman, John Le Carre, Mark Strong, StudioCanal, Summit Entertainment, The Weinstein Company, Tim Bevan, Tom Hardy, Tomas Alfredson, Universal Pictures, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has acquired domestic distribution rights to Tinker, Tailor, Solder, Spy, the Tomas Alfredson-directed adaptation of the John Le Carre novel that stars Gary Oldman, freshly minted Oscar winner Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Ciaran Hinds. … Read More »

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‘Unknown’ Director Jaume Collet-Serra Draws ‘Red Circle’ Remake

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday February 18, 2011 @ 7:44am PSTTags: Eric Fellner, Jaume Collet-Serra, Leonardo DiCaprio, Liam Neeson, Movie Deals, Movies, Oren Peli, Steven Knight, Tim Bevan, Unknown, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: As his new film Unknown gets its international premiere in Berlin today and rolls out in U.S. theaters, director Jaume Collet-Serra is making a deal to direct Red Circle, the remake of the 1970 Jean-Pierre Melville-directed Le Cercle Rouge. … Read More »

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Working Title Cracks Harry Hole Mystery Series With ‘The Snowman’ Deal

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday October 14, 2010 @ 11:53am PDTTags: Book-to-Movie, Jo Nesbo, Movies, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Working Title Films has landed screen rights to The Snowman, the Jo Nesbo novel that is the latest in a bestselling detective series that has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. The book is currently at the top of the UK bestseller lists and will be published by Knopf in the US next spring. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce, and the author and Niclas Salomonsson will be executive producers. The author, who has turned down numerous film offers for the book, was repped in the deal by Sylvie Rabineau and Salomonsson. The book is set on Oslo and is the latest in a mystery series revolving around detective Harry Hole. A woman is missing and her pink scarf turns up as an accessory that has been wrapped around an ominous-looking snowman that someone has built nearby. As the detective investigates, it appears it might be the work of a serial killer. It’s the seventh novel in the Harry Hole series for Nesbo. Read More »

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Tom Harper To Direct ‘Lost For Words’

By TIM ADLER in London | Friday July 30, 2010 @ 3:41am PDTTags: Hugh Grant, Romantic Comedy, Susanne Bier, Tom Cruise, Working Title Films

EXCLUSIVE: The young British director has just come off directing the This Is England TV series for Channel 4. Working Title is planning to shoot Lost For Words in January. Tom Cruise was going to play the lead at one … Read More »

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Working Title Plants Flag in Kurt Busiek’s Graphic Novel ‘Astro City’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday July 21, 2010 @ 11:34am PDTTags: Comic Books, DC Comics, Eric Fellner, Graphic Novels, Marvel Comics, Tim Bevan, Working Title Films
Mike Fleming

AstroCity01EXCLUSIVE: Working Title Films partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have made a deal to turn Kurt Busiek’s graphic novel series Astro City into a live action feature. The deal gives the prolific comic book writer Busiek his first chance to … Read More »

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