SSN ORIGINALS
Film Development for 11/12/15: Amy Pascal Wins ‘Crash Override’ and ‘Athena’, Chloe Grace Moretz Set for ‘The Little Mermaid’, Alchemy Nabs Hot AFM Title ‘Free Fire’
A whole lot of new attachments this week, including new actors for films like A Meyers Christmas, Felt, Live By Night, and Sherlock Gnomes, new distributors for All Roads Lead To Rome, Amulet, Free Fire, Ghost Team and Okja, among others, and a new director for Will Smith’s Collateral Beauty. All the info is just a click away. (SSN)
OTHER HEADLINES
Today In Relativity Legal Issues: Company and Original Films Resolve ‘Hunter Killer’ Issues
Production on the action-thriller will move forward after producer Neal Moritz resolved his legal issues with Relativity Studios. Moritz and his attorneys had been trying to extricate the film from the tangle of Relativity’s ongoing bankruptcy. That devolved into a war of words, with the Moritz team accusing the company and its founder Ryan Kavanaugh of operating a massive “sham” and making false statements about their financial health. (VAR)
Could Time Warner Take On a Piece Of Hulu? A Partnership Is Looking More Likely
Company is considering the possibility of becoming a part owner of the streaming service — joining Disney, Fox, and Comcast. It appears that the players are circling around terms that would give Time Warner a 25 percent stake in the streaming service in a deal that values Hulu at more than $5 billion. The goal would be to help Hulu challenge Netflix and Amazon. (DH)
Your Next Nine-Figure, Star-Driven, High End Movie Slate Film Fund Has Arrived, Thanks To Ambi Group
The consortium of film companies owned and operated by Andrea Iervolino and Monika Bacardi, has launched a $200 million film fund to finance a high end, star-driven movie slate. The fund will have Bacardi, Iervolino and New York-based private equity firm Raven Capital Management as anchor investors. Ambi will use the $200 million to finance five movies in the $25 million to $30 million range, and at least ten more movies under $10 million each. (THR)
Warner Bros.’ ‘Pinocchio’ Project Has an Opening For a Director, as Paul Thomas Anderson has Cut Ties To the Project
The auteur had originally been attached to write the project, with Robert Downey Jr. attached, and potentially direct, but now he has walked away entirely and there is no word if his script will even be used. Warner is still reeling from the disaster that was Pan earlier this fall, and Disney has a similar project in development, so there is no word on whether this version will even continue forward. (COL)
Morgan Freeman Shows No Sign Of Slowing Down, Signs Up For Spy Comedy ‘Cold Warriors’
With London Has Fallen, Ben-Hur and Going In Style all complete and awaiting release next year, the Oscar winner has signed up for the project, which will see him as a retired CIA agent with some unfinished Cold War business. The plot involves him recruiting his videogame-obsessed stepson to continue the mission, using his newfangled tech skillz. Raja Gosnell is directing from a script by Todd Berger. (EMP)
Prepare For a Lot Of ‘Grey’, as the Next Two ‘Fifty Shades’ Sequels Will Shoot Back To Back
James Foley is on board to direct both installments of the trilogy, adapted from the runaway bestselling series. The two films will both shoot in 2016, with the first sequel out in 2017 and the other a year later. Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed, the second and third chapters of the series. (CS)
Studio 8 Finally Is Ready To move Forward With Its First Movie, Has Kodi Smit-McPhee Set To Star
Australian actor, who will play Nightcrawler in X-Men: Apocalypse, is nearing a deal to topline Ice Age-set survival epic The Solutrean from director Albert Hughes. Based on a screenplay by Dan Wiedenhaupt, story is set 20,000 years ago in Europe and centers on a young man’s quest to brave the dangerous conditions and find his way back to his tribe. The big-budget film is poised to mark the first homegrown project to come from Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8. (HV)
FX Plans a Busy 2016, Sets Premiere Dates For Both New and Returning Shows
The network announced today that Ryan Murphy’s limited-run look at the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial will debut on Tuesday, February 2nd, while Baskets, FX’s new Zach Galifianakis comedy, will kick off on Thursday, January 21st. As the network launches that pair of newcomers, it will hold off the Season 4 premiere of The Americans until March — which will mark the Russian spy drama’s latest premiere thus far. (TVL)
A Systemic Change In Hollywood: What Do We Do Now?
Earlier this week, Reese Witherspoon spoke at the Glamour Women of the Year event, and in her speech, she talked about how she would see scripts on a regular basis, and the common theme for the female characters was that they were always asking the men in times of need, “What do we do now?” That is her most hated line, she said, because it suggests that women don’t have agency in their own lives. So … what happens now that people want change? (WAH)