NEW ATTACHMENTS
Splinter Way Logline: Adrenaline junkie brothers race motorcycles and fight to break the 100 mph speed record. Studio/ Distributor: Warner Bros. Production Company: John Wells Productions Producers: John Wells Writer: Mitchell Akselrad Director: John Wells SSN Insight: Both Wells and Akselrad are TV vets; Akselrad is a writer/ producer on AMC’s Turn and Wells, of course, is best known for his TV success with ER, Third Watch and The West Wing, before turning to features such as The Company Men and August: Osage County. The Death and Life of John F. Donovan Logline: An American movie star has a secret correspondence with an 11-year-old Londoner. Production Company: Lyla Films, Metafilms Inc., Sons of Manuel Producers: Xavier Dolan, Lyse Lafontaine, Nancy Grant Writer: Jacob Tierney and Xavier Dolan Director: Xavier Dolan Cast: Susan Sarandon, Kathy Bates, Jessica Chastain, Kit Harington SSN Insight: Xavier is the red-hot director of the film, Mommy, which won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May. Mommy is Canada’s official entry into the Oscar foreign-language category and is set to release in the U.S. on January 23.
The Founder Logline: The true story how Ray Kroc, a salesman from Illinois, met Mac and Dick McDonald, who were running a burger operation in 1950s Southern California. Kroc was impressed by the brother’s speedy system of making the food and saw franchise potential. He maneuvered himself in a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create the billion dollar fast food empire, McDonald’s. Production Company: FilmNation, Combine Producers: Jeremy Renner, Don Handfield Writer: Rob Siegel Director: John Lee Hancock SSN Insight: This won’t be the first time director Hancock tackles a 50’s period piece about a larger than life historic personality. He recently directed Saving Mr. Banks, about how Walt Disney secured the fights to Mary Poppins.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent Logline:Tris Prior must try to save those she loves as she grapples with looming war between factions, her own conflicted feelings, new discoveries, and shifting relationships, all while she embraces and comes to terms with her Divergence. Studio/ Distributor: Summit Entertainment Production Company: Red Wagon Entertainment, New Leaf Literary & Media, Mandeville Films Producers: Douglas Wick, Lucy Fisher, Pouya Shahbazian Writer: Akiva Goldsman Cast: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate Winslet, Octavia Spencer, Naomi Watts, Keiynan Lonsdale, Suki Waterhouse Director: Robert Schwentke SSN Insight: The sequel to the best-selling YA book series is due in theatres March 20, 2015. Neil Burger, the director of Divergent, was unable to direct this film as post production and pre-production overlapped.
NEW PROJECTS
Untitled Chris Alender Project Logline: Storyline is under wraps. Studio/Distributor: Columbia Pictures Production Company: Bad Robot Producers: J.J. Abrams Writer: Justin Doble Director: Chris Alender SSN Insight: Project was hotly sought after and went to Sony’s president Michael De Luca in a bidding war. Project is said to be Cloverfield in tone and launch the directing career of Chris Alender much in the way Cloverfield launched Matt Reeves.
Nottingham and Hood Logline: A revisionist version of the classic Robin Hood story. Studio/ Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures Production Company: The Picture Company Producers: Andrew Rona, Alex Heineman Writer: Brandon Barker SSN Insight: This spec acquisition by Disney puts the studio in the competitive race with Sony who bought a revisionist Robin Hood pitch earlier this year.
Passengers Logline: A spaceship passenger is prematurely thawed from a cryogenic slumber a century before anyone else. Studio/ Distributor: Columbia Pictures Production Company: Original Film, Start Media, Company Films Producers: Ori Marmur, Neil Moritz, Michael Maher, Stephen Hamel Writer: Jon Spaihts SSN Insight: The project has a long and convoluted history, having several previous homes and attachments, including The Weinstein Company, Reese Witherspoon and director Brian Kirk.