SSN ORIGINALS
The Accidental Turitz: Will the Death of Star-Driven Pictures Finally Give Way to the Power of Modern Thinking at AFM?
Senior Editor Neil Turitz returns with his last regular column before next week’s launch of SSN Insider’s Awards Coverage. With complaints from buyers about the dearth of good material at this past week’s AFM in Santa Monica, the suggestion is made that, perhaps, buyers are working from an antiquated model. (SSN)
Rep Moves For 11/11/15: Jordan Peele Signs With CAA, ‘The Intern’s Jojo Kushner Inks With Abrams, and More
A light week of movement this week, but among them is O’Shea Jackson, Jr., who played his own dad Ice Cube in this summer’s hit N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton. There are more, of course, and if you’d like to see them, click on the link. (SSN)
Film & TV Deals For 11/11/15: $1.6 Billion China Global Alliance Film Fund Launched, New Deal For Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Ent., and More
Meanwhile, it was a busy week on the deal front, with Alcon resigning with Warner Bros., STX Entertainment’s solidifying its first major international distribution agreement, a new deal for Scott Free TV, and the launch of Activision Blizzard Studios. Plenty more where that came from, too. (SSN)
OTHER HEADLINES
Universal Reveals Title Of Previously Unknown Illumination Entertainment 2016 Project, and a Release Date, Too
Studio announced today that the project has been titled Sing and will be released on its previously-announced date, Friday, December 21st, 2016. Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton and Tori Kelly star in a musical comedy about finding the shining star that lives inside all of us. (CS)
Today In Remake News: Tomorrow Studios Is Adapting ‘Snowpiercer’ as a TV Series
Josh Friedman will write the script for the production shingle, which has optioned the rights to the film. The potential series will be based on the 2013 film that was written and directed by Bong Joon Ho, starred Chris Evans and Tilda Swinton, and is set in a post-apocalyptic Ice Age where the only remaining life on the planet survives aboard a train that travels around the globe. (LF)
Good News, Newhart Fans! Legendary Comedian To Make His ‘Big Bang Theory’ Return In December
Comedian Bob Newhart will make his fourth appearance in Season Nine of the Emmy-winning series, and his first since the end of Season Seven. He will reprise his role as Arthur Jeffries in the CBS sitcom’s Dec. 17th episode. Naturally, his character will once again appear as a ghostly Jedi, this time to help Shelton “sort out his feelings” and reach a crucial conclusion. (TVL)
Bryan Cranston Finds His Next Film, Will Star in Adaptation Of Nathaniel Hawthorne Story, ‘Wakefield’
Robin Swicord will direct the project from her own script. Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn are producing through their Mockingbird Pictures banner with Elliot Webb co-producing. The film is based on the Hawthorne short story of the same name about a man who unexpectedly leaves his wife for an extended period of time. (VAR)
Sony Finds the Latest Sci-Fi Short To Turn Into a Major Motion Picture
Studio has picked up the rights to The Flying Man, a short film written and directed by animator and visual effects artist Marcus Alqueres, with the intent to adapting it into a full-length feature. At the same time, the studio has entered into a first-look deal with Scott Glassgold, who is attached to produce the big-screen take and who has made a career of discovering these kinds of shorts and developing and setting them up as film projects. (HV)
Alex Garland’s ‘Ex Machina’ Follow-Up Is Coming Together, and Gina Rodriguez Looks To Be a Big Piece
Annihilation is an adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer’s sci-fi novel and has been in development since 2013, when producer Scott Rudin bought the rights and set the project up at Paramount. Garland came aboard to direct and Natalie Portman will star. Story chronicles an expedition into a mysterious, remote and sealed-off zone known as Area X. Rodriguez will co-star in an unknown role. (EMP)
Trailer Buzz: ‘The Finest Hours’
Disney has released the new trailer for its upcoming drama, based on real events. Starring Chris Pine, Ben Foster and Eric Bana, it opens in theaters on January 29th, 2016. (YT)