New Attachments
Ant-Man and the Wasp
Logline: Storyline is under wraps.
Studio/Distributor(s): Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Production Company(s): Marvel Entertainment
Producer(s): Kevin Feige
Writer(s): Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari, Paul Rudd
Director(s): Peyton Reed
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas
Details: Sequel to “Ant-Man” (2015) directed by Peyton Reed and starring Paul Rudd.
SSN Insight: Barrer and Ferrari’s first script, Die In A Gunfight, made the Black List and was acquired by MRC. Since then, they’ve sold numerous scripts and participated in the Transformers writers room.
Behold My Heart
Logline: After the tragic death of her husband, a woman and her teenage sons must fight through their grief to become a family again.
Production Company(s): Through Films, Autumn Pictures
Producer(s): Mary Pat Bentel, Marisa Tomei, David Hansen, Johnny Mac, Marcus Cox
Writer(s): Joshua Leonard, Rebecca Lowman
Director(s): Joshua Leonard
Cast: Marisa Tomei, Timothy Olyphant, Mireille Enos, Charlie Plummer, David Call
SSN Insight: Holly Wiersma was previously attached to produce.
Brother’s Blood
Logline: Jake goes to prison to protect his friends and his best friend Chris turns his life around to become a police officer. When Jake is released after 15 years, he seeks revenge.
Studio/Distributor(s): , Code Black Entertainment
Production Company(s): WWE Studios, Code Black Entertainment
Producer(s): Michael Luisi
Writer(s): Karl Gajdusek, Michael Finch, Charles Murray
Director(s): John Pogue
Cast: Trey Songz
SSN Insight: First film under the deal between WWE Studios and Lionsgate urban label Codeblack Films to co-produce and co-finance a slate of films.
Catherine the Great
Logline: Sophia Augusta’s marriage to Peter III, the Emperor of Russia, is anything but the fairy-tale life that she had been promised. She takes control of her life, her marriage, and her kingdom, becoming Russia’s most celebrated and beloved monarch.
Production Company(s): Gil Netter Productions
Producer(s): Gil Netter
Writer(s): Kristina Lauren Anderson
Director(s): Barbra Streisand
SSN Insight: Screenplay was included in the 2014 Hit List and Black List. Previously in development at Atlas Entertainment.
Counterfeit Son
Logline: Surrounds a family shocked when a young man appears at their door claiming to be their long lost and presumed dead son, who went missing six years earlier. The timing of their “son”‘s return — just as his trust fund matures — as well as the young man’s traumatic past, place him under suspicion and potential danger.
Production Company(s): Alcon Entertainment, Lion Share Productions
Producer(s): Jessica Horowitz Rhoades, Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove, Steven Wegner
Writer(s): Matthew Aldrich, Salim Akil (polish)
Director(s): Salim Akil
Details: Based on the novel “Counterfeit Son” written by Elaine Marie Alphin published by Harcourt Children’s Books; September 1, 2000.
SSN Insight: Alcon Entertainment paid Matthew Aldrich a reported six-figures to adapt the novel. Ericson Core was previously attached to direct.
Denial
Logline: Recounts Lipstadt’s legal battle for historical truth against David Irving, who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust Denier. In the English legal system, the burden of proof is on the accused; therefore, it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust happened.
Studio/Distributor(s): Bleecker Street
Production Company(s): Participant Media, BBC Films, Krasnoff Foster Entertainment, Shoebox Films
Producer(s): Russ Krasnoff, Gary Foster, Rikki Lea Bestall
Writer(s): David Hare, Max Borenstein
Director(s): Mick Jackson
Cast: Tom Wilkinson, Rachel Weisz, Timothy Spall, Andrew Scott, Caren Pistorius
Details: Based on the memoir “History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier” written by Deborah E. Lipstadt and published by HarperCollins in 2005.
SSN Insight: Mick Jackson was previously attached to direct. Hilary Swank was previously attached to co-star.
Dude
Logline: Four high school senior girls party hard before parting ways for college.
Production Company(s): Mosaic
Producer(s): Langley Perer, Lawrence Inglee, Rob Ree, Heather Rae, Jimmy Miller
Writer(s): Olivia Milch
Director(s): Olivia Milch
Cast: Lucy Hale, Kathryn Prescott, Alexandra Shipp, Awkwafina, Nat Wolff, Austin Abrams, Jerry MacKinnon
SSN Insight: Project was included on the 2013 Black List.
Forgive Me
Logline: After the tragic death of his son, TV personality and cigarette huckster Mike Wallace joins CBS News, transforming himself into one of the best investigative journalists of his generation while struggling tohide a growing depression that threatens his marriage, his career, and eventually his life.
Studio/Distributor(s): Amazon Studios
Production Company(s): COTA Films
Producer(s): Michael Costigan
Writer(s): Max Hurwitz
SSN Insight: Screenplay was included in the 2014 Hit List and Black List.
Get Out
Logline: A young African American man visits his white girlfriend’s family, with horrifying consequences.
Production Company(s): Blumhouse Productions, QC Entertainment
Producer(s): Jason Blum, Sean McKittrick, Ted Hamm
Writer(s): Jordan Peele
Director(s): Jordan Peele
Cast: Allison Williams, Daniel Kaluuya, Catherine Keener
SSN Insight: Keener recently appeared in Paul Haggis’ HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, along with Captain Phillips, Begin Again and the animated feature The Croods.
Snowtime! (Animated)
Logline: The film follows a group of kids in a small village who set out during winter break to hold a massive snowball fight. However, what begins as a fun contest deteriorates into a more bitter conflict teaching the children valuable lessons about friendship, the importance of unity, and the emotional consequences of vicious rivalry.
Studio/Distributor(s): Shout! Factory, CarpeDiem Film & TV
Producer(s): Marie-Claude Beauchamp
Writer(s): Normand Canac-Marquis, Paul Risacher
Director(s): Jean-Francois Pouliot, Francois Brisson
Voice Cast: Angela Gallupo, Lucinda Davis, Sonja Ball, Sandra Oh, Ross Lynch, Jenna Wheeler
SSN Insight: Slated to premiere during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Starfish
Logline: A couple’s love is tested when the husband contracts a rare and terrible disease.
Production Company(s): What’s the Story, CrossDay Productions, Origami Films
Producer(s): Joanne Froggatt, Pippa Cross, Mel Paton, Ros Hubbard
Writer(s): Bill Clark
Director(s): Bill Clark
Cast: Joanne Froggatt, Tom Riley, Peter Lang
SSN Insight: Starfish is Froggatt’s first producer credit and her first feature lead since winning a Golden Globe as Anna in Downton Abbey.
Suburbicon
Logline: Storyline is under wraps.
Studio/Distributor(s): TriStar Productions, Sony Pictures Releasing
Production Company(s): Silver Pictures, Mike Zoss Productions, Smokehouse Pictures
Producer(s): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Joel Silver, George Clooney, Grant Heslov
Writer(s): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Director(s): George Clooney
Cast: George Clooney, Matt Damon (in negotiations), Julianne Moore (in negotiations), Josh Brolin (in negotiations)
SSN Insight: Previously in development at Warner Bros.
The Dark Tower
Logline: The tale of gunslinger Roland Deschain’s quest for the Dark Tower.
Studio/Distributor(s): Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing
Production Company(s): Imagine Entertainment, Weed Road Pictures
Producer(s): Brian Grazer, Akiva Goldsman, Ron Howard, Erica Huggins, Stephen King
Writer(s): Anders Thomas Jensen, Nikolaj Arcel, Akiva Goldsman, Jeff Pinkner
Director(s): Nikolaj Arcel
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Idris Elba (in talks)
Details: Based on the seven-book series “Dark Tower” that begins with “The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger” written by Stephen King and published by Donald M. Grant in 1982.
SSN Insight: “The Dark Tower” is planned to be the first in a series of movies. A complementary television series is also being developed by co-financier Media Rights Capital. Screenwriters Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner reportedly started from scratch and disregarded all previous incarnations of the project.
The Last Battle
Logline: The true story of the final battle of World War II in Europe and the only time that Germans and Americans ever fought together against a common enemy.
Studio/Distributor(s): StudioCanal
Production Company(s): Stellar Productions, The Picture Company
Producer(s): Andrew Rona, Alex Heineman, Bryce Zabel
Writer(s): Bryce Zabel
Details: Based on the book “The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe” written by Stephen Harding and published by Da Capo Press on May 7, 2013.
SSN Insight: Rona and Heineman are prepping The Last Battle under The Picture Co’s deal to produce up to three films per year for StudioCanal. The Commuter is also under this pact.
The Thinning
Logline: Set in a near future in which the nations of earth are staring down an overwhelming population crisis. In the U.S., the government has opted for an annual event called The Thinning, which sees high school students in every grade forced to take a difficult exam, with the lowest-scorers summarily executed. Things go sideways when two students accidentally stumble on the fact that the tests are a sham, forcing them to fight to expose a deeper conspiracy and bring The Thinning to an end.
Production Company(s): Legendary Entertainment, Kids At Play
Director(s): Michael J. Gallagher
Cast: Logan Paul, Peyton Roi List, Ryan Newman, Lia Marie Johnson, Michael Traynor, Calum Worthy, Matt Glave
SSN Insight: Production will begin this month, with release through digital sell-through and VOD planned for 2016- the first such release strategy for Legendary Digital.
The True Memoirs Of An International Assassin
Logline: About a fiction writer whose novel about an international assassin accidentally is published as nonfiction, leading him to be caught in a web of danger and intrigue as he’s forced to flee to Belize.
Production Company(s): PalmStar Entertainment, Hey Eddie Productions, Merced Media Partners
Producer(s): Todd Garner, Kevin Scott Frakes, Raja Collins, Justin Begnaud, Raj Singh
Director(s): Jeff Wadlow
Cast: Kevin James, Génesis Rodríguez, Andy Garcia, Kim Coates
SSN Insight: Project was previously in development as a feature film.
The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip (Animated)
Logline: A little girl in a small seaside town must fight off the Gappers, creatures who attach themselves to goats because they love them, but it keeps the animals from giving milk.
Studio/Distributor(s): Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM),
Producer(s): George Saunders, Mike Jones
Writer(s): Mike Jones
Details: Based on the children’s book “The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip” written by George Saunders, illustrated by Lane Smith and published by Villard in 2000.
SSN Insight: Jones is also scripting the USS Indianapolis project for Team Downey at Warners. He recently finished a feature adaptation of Sesame Street for Fox and Shawn Levy.
The War Magician
Logline: Based on the true story of Jasper Maskelyne, a British stage musician who used his knowledgeof magic to help fight against the Germans in World War II.
Production Company(s): Lonetree Entertainment, SunnyMarch, Storyscape Entertainment
Producer(s): Tony Eldridge, Bob Cooper, Richard Saperstein, Adam Ackland, Adam Selves
Writer(s): Gary Whitta
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch
Details: Based on the novel “The War Magicain” written by David Fisher published by Putnam; January, 1983.
SSN Insight: Tom Cruise was previously attached to star. Peter Weir formerly attached to direct.
The Wedding Sting
Logline: In 1990, the police in Flint, Michigan lacked funds to round up the city’s drug dealers, so they a created a fake wedding to get them in one place and arrest them.
Studio/Distributor(s): Paramount Pictures,
Production Company(s): Distruption Entertainment
Producer(s): Mary Parent
Writer(s): Drew Pearce
Details: Based on the article “The Wedding Sting” written by Jeff Maysh and published in the May, 2015 issue of The Atlantic.
SSN Insight: Pearce is also attached to Secretaries Day as executive producer and screenwriter (spec pitch) along with The Billion Brick Race as director and screenwriter and an Untitled Punk Rocker Comedy as executive producer and screenwriter at Fox.
Trainspotting 2
Logline: Storyline is under wraps.
Studio/Distributor(s): TriStar Productions, Sony Pictures Releasing
Production Company(s): DNA Films, Film4 Productions, Figment Films, Cloud Eight Films, Decibel
Producer(s): Andrew Macdonald, Danny Boyle, Christian Colson, Bernard Bellew
Writer(s): John Hodge
Director(s): Danny Boyle
Cast: Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Robert Carlyle, Ewen Bremner, Kelly Macdonald
Details: Sequel to “Trainspotting” (UK/1996) directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor and Jonny Lee Miller. Based on the novel “Porno” written by Irvine Welsh and published by Jonathan Cape August 2002.
SSN Insight: Hodge also wrote the screenplays for the Boyle-directed A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach and Trance.
Untitled Ang Lee Boxing Project
Logline: An exploration of the great rivalries of boxing that dominated the sport in the 1960s through the 1970s.
Studio/Distributor(s): Studio 8, Sony Pictures Releasing
Producer(s): Ang Lee, James Schamus
Writer(s): Peter Morgan
Director(s): Ang Lee
SSN Insight: Project was previously being developed at Focus Features. Project was previously set up at Universal Pictures. David Oyelowo is rumored to be the choice to star.
Valerian
Logline: A man and woman are partners for a space-time police organization.
Production Company(s): EuropaCorp, Fundamental Films
Producer(s): Virginie Silla
Writer(s): Luc Besson
Director(s): Luc Besson
Cast: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke
Details: Based on the comic book series “Valerian,” written by Pierre Christin and published in France by Pilote in 1967.
SSN Insight: During the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, China’s Fundamental Films agreed to invest $50,000,000 into this project, marking the biggest deal of the year’s festival.
New Projects
Claire
Logline: A woman who lives on a rural farm must protect her daughter when the girl falls in with the wrong crowd.
Production Company(s): Ridley Scott Films , Black Bicycle Entertainment
Producer(s): Erika Olde, Ridley Scott, Michael Schaefer, Michael A. Pruss
Writer(s): Brad Ingelsby
SSN Insight: Brad Ingelsby has also written the pitch for Merry Men (DreamWorks) and The Signal, specs for The Burning Woman and screenplays for Point Blank and The Raid remakes.
Household Pets
Logline: An imaginative boy does battle with the monsters that hide under his bed.
Production Company(s): Marza Animation Planet, Pigmental Studios, SPA Studios
Producer(s): Sergio Pablos, Marina Martins
SSN Insight: First film under the deal between Stuart Ford’s sales-financing banner IM Global and Marza Animation Planet, the filmmaking subsidiary of video game developer Sega, and Pigmental Studios to handle sales on feature projects.
Human People
Logline: An ensemble film which follows a group of New Yorkers who navigate various problems and relationships over the course of a single day.
Production Company(s): Park Pictures, Sailor Bear, Bow & Arrow Entertainment, Forager Films
Producer(s): Sara Murphy, Toby Halbrooks
Director(s): Dustin Guy
Cast: Michael Cera, Tavi Gevinson, Abbi Jacobson, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Michaela Watkins
SSN Insight: Cera and Gevinson recently were in the cast together in a Broadway production of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth.
Tesla
Logline: This biopic about inventor Nikola Tesla focuses on his life in America.
Production Company(s): BB Films Productions
Producer(s): Uri Singer
Director(s): Michael Almereyda
SSN Insight: Pre-production is set to start in April.
The Big Sick
Logline: Storyline is under wraps, but is based on true events in the lives of Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon.
Studio/Distributor(s): FilmNation
Production Company(s): Barry Mendel Productions, Apatow Productions
Producer(s): Judd Apatow, Barry Mendel
Writer(s): Kumail Nanjiani, Emily V. Gordon
Director(s): Michael Showalter
Cast: Kumail Nanjiani
SSN Insight: Glen Basner’s FilmNation will fully finance and handle international sales on the project. Nanjiani plays Dinesh on HBO’s award-winning comedy Silicon Valley in addition he is also a writer, executive producer and co-host of Comedy Central’s The Meltdown.
The Paladin
Logline: The true story of how Winston Churchill used a top-secret program during WWII to turn a 15-year-old boy into a deadly assassin.
Production Company(s): The Firm
Producer(s): Robbie Brenner, Jason Keller, David Dobkin, Jeff Kleeman
Writer(s): Eric Pfeffinger, Jason Keller
Details: Based on the novel “The Paladin” written by Brian Garfield and published by Simon and Schuster in 1979.
SSN Insight: This is Brenner’s second pickup since leaving Relativity Media as production president to head the film-side The Firm. The first is an adaptation of Joy Nicholson’s novel Tribes Of Palos Verdes Brenner developed at Relativity.
Untitled Will Gluck/Dwayne Johnson Action Comedy Project
Logline: The storyline of the mismatched buddy movie is under wraps.
Studio/Distributor(s): New Line Cinema
Production Company(s): Olive Bridge Entertainment, Flynn Picture Co., 7 Bucks Entertainment
Producer(s): Beau Flynn, Will Gluck, Dwayne Johnson
Writer(s): David Callaham
Director(s): Will Gluck
Cast: Dwayne Johnson
SSN Insight: Deal was reported to be in the high-six against seven figures for Callaham, who recently wrote the script Zombieland 2 for Sony.