New Attachments
All Eyez on Me
Logline: This biopic will follow rapper Tupac Shakur’s career, including his time at Death Row Records and his involvement in the rivalry between East coast and West coast rappers, culminating in his murder in 1996.
Studio/Distributor(s): Open Road Films
Production Company(s): Morgan Creek Productions, Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films
Producer(s): James G. Robinson, David C. Robinson, LT Hutton, Randall Emmett, George Furla
Writer(s): John Singleton, Ed Gonzalez, Jeremy Haft, Michael Starrbury, David McKenna
Director(s): Benny Boom
Cast: Demetrius Shipp Jr., Jamal Woolard, Danai Gurira, Katerina Graham, Jamie Hector, Keith Robinson
SSN Insight: Antoine Fuqua was previously attached to direct. Soulja Boy was previously mentioned to star. Project was previously in development at Universal. Robinson will portray TNT Records founder Atron Gregory.
Audrie & Daisy
Logline: Assault in the social media age is examined after two girls are sexually assaulted by boys they consider to be friends and online bullying leads each to attempt suicide.
Studio/Distributor(s): Netflix
Production Company(s): Actual Films, Impact Partners, AfterImage Public Media
Producer(s): Richard Berge, Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, Sara Dosa
Director(s): Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk
SSN Insight: Netflix acquired worldwide SVOD rights after the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Equity
Logline: Focuses on a group of women caught up in the world of high finance, specifically an investment banker who gets entangled in a controversial public offering.
Studio/Distributor(s): Sony Pictures Classics
Production Company(s): Broad Street Pictures
Producer(s): Alysia Reiner, Sarah Megan Thomas
Writer(s): Amy Fox
Director(s): Meera Menon
Cast: Anna Gunn, James Purefoy, Sarah Megan Thomas, Alysia Reiner, Carrie Preston
SSN Insight: Sony Pictures Classics acquired worldwide rights after the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Hunt For the Wilderpeople
Logline: A kid from the city finds himself on the run with his foster uncle in the New Zealand wilderness, prompting a nationwide manhunt.
Studio/Distributor(s): The Orchard
Production Company(s): Defender Films Limited, Curious Films, Piki Films
Producer(s): Taika Waititi, Carthew Neal, Leanne Saunders, Matt Noonan
Writer(s): Taika Waititi
Director(s): Taika Waititi
Cast: Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, Rhys Darby, Stan Walker, Rima Te Wiata
Details: Based on the novel “Wild Pork and Watercress” written by Barry Crump and published by Beckett Publishing, Auckland, New Zealand, in 1986.
SSN Insight: The Orchard acquired domestic rights following the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival for $2 million.
Indignation
Logline: Two complicated and unique individuals, one the son of a kosher butcher from Newark and the other the daughter of a well-regarded surgeon from Cleveland, explore a relationship at their Midwestern university in the 1950s.
Studio/Distributor(s): Summit Entertainment
Production Company(s): X-Filme Creative Pool, Symbolic Exchange, FilmNation, Likely Story, BFB Entertainment, RT Features
Producer(s): Anthony Bregman, James Schamus, Rodrigo Teixeira
Writer(s): James Schamus
Director(s): James Schamus
Cast: Logan Lerman, Sarah Gadon, Tracy Letts, Linda Emond, Danny Burstein
Details: Based on the novel “Indignation” written by Philip Roth and published by Houghton Mifflin in September 2008.
SSN Insight: Scott Rudin preemptively acquired the novel by Philip Roth in a reported seven-figure deal. Project was previously in development at Scott Rudin Productions with Scott Rudin attached to produce. Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment paid an estimated $2.5 million for North American rights to the film.
Lady Bird
Logline: The film revolves around a student’s last year in high school in Sacramento, California.
Production Company(s): Scott Rudin Productions
Producer(s): Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, Evelyn O’Neill
Writer(s): Greta Gerwig
Director(s): Greta Gerwig
Cast: Saoirse Ronan
SSN Insight: Saorise Ronan is making waves and has been nominated for Best Actress at this year’s Oscars for her starring role in Brooklyn.
Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World
Logline: This documentary asks the question: “Does the internet dream of itself?” and explores the horizons of the connected world.
Studio/Distributor(s): Magnolia Pictures
Production Company(s): Saville Productions
Producer(s): Werner Herzog, Rupert Maconick
Director(s): Werner Herzog
SSN Insight: Magnolia Pictures acquired worldwide rights after the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Love & Friendship
Logline: Set in the 1790s, a widow waits out rumors about her dalliances while she seeks a husband for herself, and a husband for her reluctant daughter.
Studio/Distributor(s): Amazon Studios, Roadside Attractions
Production Company(s): Netherlands Film Fund, Westerly Films, Blinder Films, Chic Films, Revolver Films (Netherlands)
Producer(s): Lauranne Bourrachot, Katie Holly, Whit Stillman
Writer(s): Whit Stillman
Director(s): Whit Stillman
Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Xavier Samuel, Morfydd Clark, Emma Greenwell, Tom Bennett
Details: Based on the novel/novella “Lady Susan” written by Jane Austen, written sometime between 1794 and 1805, and first published in 1871.
SSN Insight: Sienna Miller was previously attached to play the role of Lady Susan. Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions will partner on the domestic theatrical release of the film in a deal made at Sundance.
Manchester By The Sea
Logline: Centers on a man who, after the death of his brother, is forced to return home to care for his 16-year old nephew and confront a tragic past that separated him from his family and the community where he was raised.
Studio/Distributor(s): Amazon Studios
Production Company(s): Pearl Street Films, The Media Farm, B Story, The Affleck/Middleton Project
Producer(s): Lauren Beck, Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Gigi Pritzker, Kimberly Steward
Writer(s): Kenneth Lonergan
Director(s): Kenneth Lonergan
Cast: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges, C.J. Wilson
SSN Insight: Previously in development at OddLot Entertainment. Matt Damon was previously attached to star. Pre-production was scheduled to start on September 8, 2014. Amazon has acquired domestic rights for the film for an estimated $10 million.
Morris from America
Logline: Morris is a hip-hop-loving American 13-year-old, who has to face the challenges of adolescence in a foreign place when his father moves to Heidelberg.
Studio/Distributor(s): A24
Production Company(s): Südwestrundfunk (SWR), Indi Film GmbH, Lichtblick Media, Beachside Films
Producer(s): Martin Heisler, Sara Murphy, Adele Romanski, Gabriele Simon
Writer(s): Chad Hartigan
Director(s): Chad Hartigan
Cast: Craig Robinson, Carla Juri, Lina Keller, Markees Christmas, Jakub Gierszal
SSN Insight: A24 acquired domestic distribution rights for a figure reported to be north of $1 million following the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
Permission
Logline: A couple decide to sleep with other people for the sake of their relationship.
Production Company(s): Picture Films Inc, Ball and Chain Productions, Paper Trail
Producer(s): Margot Hand, Rebecca Hall, Giri Tharan, Joshua Thurston
Writer(s): Brian Crano
Director(s): Brian Crano
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dan Stevens, Gina Gershon, Francois Arnaud, Morgan Spector
SSN Insight: WME is repping worldwide rights. Hall recently became attached to Meredity Danluck’s State Like Sleep alongside Michael Shannon and Ben Foster.
Popeye
Logline: The adventures of spinach-eating Popeye the Sailor, his girlfriend Olive Oyl and his nemesis Bluto.
Studio/Distributor(s): Columbia Pictures
Production Company(s): Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, Arad Productions, Inc., Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc., Sony Pictures Animation
Producer(s): Avi Arad, Ari Arad
Writer(s): T.J. Fixman, Jay Scherick, David Ronn
Details: Based on the character Popeye the Sailor created by E.C. Segar and first appearing in the King Features comic strip “Thimble Theatre” on January 17, 1929.
SSN Insight: Genndy Tartakovsky was previously attached to direct. Fixman has also scripted Men Who Kill at Fox, with Michael B. Jordan attached to produce and star in and has sold One Night On The Hudson to Universal.
Silver Ghost
Logline: Charles Rolls and Henry Royce create the first Rolls-Royce car, but their lives intertwine with the royal Beaulieu family and complications arise.
Production Company(s): Sikelia Productions, Zuma Productions
Producer(s): Martin Scorsese, Anthony Haas
Writer(s): Jeffrey Caine
Director(s): Asif Kapadia
SSN Insight: Kapadia was also the filmmaker behind the critically acclaimed racing documentary Senna.
Sleight
Logline: After his mother’s death, a young street magician turns to dealing drugs at parties to support his little sister. When she kidnapped by his supplier, he uses his sleight of hand and keen intelligence to find her.
Studio/Distributor(s): WWE Studios, Blumhouse Productions
Production Company(s): Diablo Entertainment
Producer(s): Eric B. Fleischman, Sean Tabibian, Alex Theurer
Writer(s): JD Dillard, Alex Theurer
Director(s): JD Dillard
Cast: Jacob Latimore, Dulé Hill, Tyga, Storm Reid, Seychelle Gabriel
SSN Insight: WWE Studios and Blumhouse Productions acquired worldwide rights after the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival for an estimated low seven figures.
Songs My Brothers Taught Me
Logline: On a Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a brother and his younger sister find themselves on separate paths to rediscovering the meaning of home.
Studio/Distributor(s): Kino Lorber
Production Company(s): Significant Productions
Producer(s): Chloe Zhao, Mollye Asher, Angela C. Lee, Forest Whitaker, Nina Yang
Writer(s): Chloe Zhao
Director(s): Chloe Zhao
Cast: Eleonore Hendricks, Travis Lone Hill, Taysha Fuller, Irene Bedard, Jashaun St. John
SSN Insight: Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to the film ahead of the film’s March 2 theatrical bow at New York’s Film Forum ahead of a national rollout and digital release.
Submergence
Logline: The interwoven stories of former lovers; one a member of British Intelligence, the other a scientist.
Studio/Distributor(s): Embankment Films
Production Company(s): Neue Road Movies, Lila 9th Productions
Producer(s): Cameron Lamb, Andrew Banks
Writer(s): Erin Dignam
Director(s): Wim Wenders
Cast: James McAvoy, Alicia Vikander
Details: Based on the novel “Submergence” by J.M. Ledgard; published by Coffee House Press March 26, 2013.
SSN Insight: UTA will rep domestic rights with Embankment handling international sales at this year’s EFM in Berlin.
The Birth of a Nation
Logline: The true story of Nat Turner, the educated slave and preacher who led a violent slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831.
Studio/Distributor(s): Fox Searchlight
Production Company(s): Mandalay Pictures, Phantom Four, Bron Media Corp., Tiny Giant Entertainment
Producer(s): Nate Parker, Kevin Turen, Jason Michael Berman, Aaron Gilbert, Preston L. Holmes
Writer(s): Nate Parker
Director(s): Nate Parker
Cast: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Mark Boone Junior, Colman Domingo, Aunjanue Ellis
SSN Insight: Fox Searchlight acquired worldwide rights for $17.5 million following the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
The Intervention
Logline: A weekend getaway for four couples takes a sharp turn when one of the couples discovers the entire trip was orchestrated to host an intervention on their marriage.
Studio/Distributor(s): Paramount
Production Company(s): Burn Later Productions
Producer(s): Paul Bernon, Sam Slater, Sev Ohanian
Writer(s): Clea DuVall
Director(s): Clea DuVall
Cast: Clea DuVall, Cobie Smulders, Melanie Lynskey, Jason Ritter, Natasha Lyonne
SSN Insight: Paramount acquired worldwide rights after the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival for $2.5 million.
The Million Dollar Duck
Logline: Examines the eccentric subculture surrounding the Federal Duck Stamp Contest, tracking six artists vying to win what’s been called “the Olympics of wildlife art” by designing the latest version of the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp.
Studio/Distributor(s): Lionsgate
Production Company(s): No Production Company Available.
Writer(s): Martin J. Smith
Director(s): Brian Golden Davis
SSN Insight: Lionsgate acquired domestic rights to the film which it will distribute in limited theatrical release along with digital home entertainment and packaged media and Animal Planet acquired television rights after the film’s premiere at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival.
Weiner-Dog
Logline: Several people find their life inspired or changed by one particular dachshund, who seems to be spreading comfort and joy.
Studio/Distributor(s): Amazon Studios
Production Company(s): Killer Films, Annapurna Pictures, Greyshack Films
Producer(s): Mike S Ryan, Megan Ellison, Christine Vachon
Writer(s): Todd Solondz
Director(s): Todd Solondz
Cast: Greta Gerwig, Julie Delpy, Jack Huston, Kieran Culkin, Danny DeVito
SSN Insight: Amazon acquired domestic distribution rights for seven figures following the film’s premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Amazon will partner with a theatrical distributor for a domestic theatrical release.
New Projects
Anon
Logline: Centers on a detective in a world with no privacy, ignorance and anonymity. It is the end of crime. However, when Owen’s character stumbles on a young woman who doesn’t exist, he discovers it may not be the end of crime but the beginning.
Production Company(s): K5
Producer(s): Oliver Simon, Daniel Baur
Writer(s): Andrew Niccol
Director(s): Andrew Niccol
Cast: Clive Owen
SSN Insight: K5 Film is producing and financing the film. Owen is next starring in Luc Besson’s sci-fi epic Valerian. CAA will rep U.S. distribution rights with K5 handling international rights.
East/West
Logline: Storyline under wraps for this comedy film.
Studio/Distributor(s): Universal Pictures
Production Company(s): Lava Bear Films
Producer(s): Jason Winer, Zhang Ziyi, Tory Metzger, David Linde, Ling Lucas
Writer(s): Ethan Sandler, Adrian Wenner
Director(s): Jason Winer
Cast: Zhang Ziyi
SSN Insight: Ziyi’s past films include The Crossing Part II, The Grandmaster, Dangerous Liaisons and My Lucky Star.
Eat Local
Logline: An unsuspecting Essex boy’s fling with a stunning cougar becomes a fight for survival when she introduces him her friends, a coven of ravenous vampires, at a remote farmhouse.
Production Company(s): GFM Films, Hereford Films
Producer(s): Rod Smith, Jonathan Sothcott, Neil Jones
Writer(s): Danny King
Director(s): Jason Flemyng
Cast: Charlie Cox, MacKenzie Crook, Dexter Fletcher, Freema Agyeman, Eve Myles
SSN Insight: Jason Flemyng is also helming Reign of Blood, currently in production for GFM Films.
Mapplethorpe
Logline: Based on the life of avant-garde photographer Robert Mapplethorpe.
Production Company(s): Interloper Films, Boston Diva Productions
Producer(s): Ondi Timoner, Eliza Dushku, Nate Dushku, Sirad Balducci
Writer(s): Bruce Goodrich
Director(s): Ondi Timoner
Cast: Matt Smith, Zosia Mamet
SSN Insight: Matt Smith is best known for playing Doctor Who in the long-running BBC series.
NickToons
Logline: Signature Nickelodeon characters from the shows “Rugrats,” “Ren & Stimpy,” “Rocko’s Modern Life,” “Aaahh! Real Monsters” and “The Angry Beavers” are brought together in this film.
Studio/Distributor(s): Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon,
Production Company(s): Disruption Entertainment
Producer(s): Mary Parent, Cale Boyter
Writer(s): Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Director(s): Jared Hess
SSN Insight: The film is based on a pitch by Ali Mendes, who works for Parent at Disruption Entertainment.
People Who Eat Darkness
Logline: After the murder of a young Englishwoman working in Tokyo, her parents try to navigate the Japanese legal and police systems to bring their daughter’s killer to justice.
Studio/Distributor(s): 20th Century Fox
Details: Based on the book “People Who Eat Darkness” written by Richard Lloyd Parry and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2012.
SSN Insight: Fox has acquired the rights for the book. Parry is an award-winning foreign correspondent and Asia bureau chief for The Times of London. Parry’s deal was handled by Judy Daish & Associates.
The Loney
Logline: In 1976, teenage Tonto and his family make their annual pilgrimage to a shrine which is engulfed in the mysteries of a priest’s death and a pregnant girl in a wheelchair.
Production Company(s): DNA Films, Film4 Productions
Producer(s): Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich
Details: Based on the novel “The Loney” written by Andrew Michael Hurley and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2016.
SSN Insight: In a competitive situation, DNA Films, best known for Ex Machina, and Film4 have acquired the rights to Andrew Michael Hurley’s novel.
The Sound of Metal
Logline: A singer and a drummer in a band must come to terms with the new reality of silence when the drummer begins to lose his hearing.
Production Company(s): COTA Films
Producer(s): Michael Costigan, Ben LeClair
Writer(s): Darius Marder
Director(s): Darius Marder
Cast: Dakota Johnson, Matthias Schoenaerts
SSN Insight: The film is in the process of setting up financing, with a plan to shoot in next fall.
The Apollo Theater Project
Logline: A documentary about the authorized history of New York’s famed Apollo Theater.
Production Company(s): White Horse Pictures, Studiocanal, Universal Music Group, Impact Pictures
Producer(s): Nigel Sinclair, Jeanne Elfant Festa, Steve Cohen, Paula Froehle, Ken Pelletier, Dave Knott, Jonelle Procope
Writer(s): Cassidy Hartmann, Mark Monroe, Shola Lynch
Director(s): Lee Daniels
SSN Insight: Long-established documentary financing company Impact Partners, the Europe-based Studiocanal and Universal Music Group are financing the project along with The Chicago Media Project. Studiocanal, Impact Partners and White Horse Pictures jointly represent the US rights.
The Time Museum
Logline: A bright, socially awkward high school student discovers the mysterious Earth Time Museum.
Production Company(s): Josephson Entertainment, Broad Green Pictures
Producer(s): Barry Josephson, Elizabeth Bassin
Details: Based on the graphic novel series “The Time Museum,” written by Matt Loux and to be published by First Second/Macmillan in 2017.
SSN Insight: Broad Green recently bought the Tyger Williams pitch Bad Influence.