Here’s the Weekly Rundown, one day late. Don’t kill me! A couple of things. If you haven’t already voted on your Top 10 favorite unproduced screenplays, go check out the original post and do so. I’ll be announcing the results this Wednesday. Also, if you didn’t see Michael Stark’s Top 10 favorite books that should be made into movies, go back and check it out. A week after we ran the article, Warner Brothers optioned one of the books, Carter Beats The Devil. Coincidence? Hmmm. And finally, for those interested in Script Notes on their latest screenplay, I’m having a special from now til the end of April. $80 for 3 pages of great notes. Take advantage and e-mail me (Carsonreeves1@gmail.com) while there are still slots open. Now on to Jessica Hall’s Weekly Rundown!
David S. Ward (THE STING) will adapt Margaret A. Weitekamp’s book “Right Stuff Wrong Sex” for Producer Scott Mednick (300). Story follows the confrontation between two of aviation’s female titans, Jackie Cochran and Jerrie Cobb, in a battle to send the first woman into space. (http://bit.ly/bU3edE)
Keir Pearson (HOTEL RWANDA) and producer Larry Meli have optioned life rights of civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez for Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna’s Mexico-based Canana Films. (http://bit.ly/bDwQl0)
Cook and Weisberg’s (THE ROCK) 2009 spec BLANK SLATE sold to Bold Films. In the female driven action thriller, the CIA investigates the murder of a female agent and implants the agent’s memories into the damaged brain of a female convict. The agent’s lethal abilities also are implanted, and soon the convict goes rogue to discover the truth about the murder. (http://bit.ly/9ccuOw)
2009 Black List writer Chad St. John (THE DAYS BEFORE) will adapt SPY HUNTER for Warner Bros. and Dan Lin. The videogame had recently been in development at Universal, where John Woo and Paul W.S. Anderson were attached to direct at various points and Dwayne Johnson attached to star. Past drafts have been written by Brandt & Haas (WANTED), Zak Penn (X-MEN 3) and Stuart Beattie (3:10 TO YUMA). (http://bit.ly/9v7kAn)
Scribe Mike Jones (MINOTAUR TAKES A CIGARETTE BREAK) is in negotiations to adapt POPEYE for Sony. Logline for the 3-D CGI project is being kept under wraps, but Popeye’s love interest Olive Oyl, nemesis Bluto and adopted child Swee’Pea will be part of the adventure. (http://bit.ly/dtqpU1)
Jennifer Lee will adapt John Steinbeck’s “The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights” for Troika Pictures. Published posthumously, “The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights” is Steinbeck’s retelling of the Arthurian legend, based on the Winchester Manuscript text of Thomas Malory’s “Le Morte d’Arthur,” first published in 1485. (http://bit.ly/a7uIYb)
DreamWorks has picked up an untitled action comedy pitch in a bidding war from director Ruben Fleischer (ZOMBIELAND). Arnold & Poole (BEAUJOLAIS) will write the buddy cop comedy for producers Nick Stoller and Gavin Polone. (http://bit.ly/cqW0ZA)
Paul W.S. Anderson is directing a feature based on classic 1950s hero BUCK RODGERS. Marcum & Holloway (IRON MAN) wrote the script about a fighter pilot who awakens in the 25th century, is credited with helping turn outer space into a setting for exploration and action-adventure stories, and getting the public used to space-age technologies during the Space Race. (http://bit.ly/dsCPs2)
Mandate picked up Diablo Cody’s (JENNIFER’S BODY) spec YOUNG ADULT, about a thirtysomething, divorced, young-adult fiction writer in Minneapolis who returns to her hometown to chase the ex-boyfriend, who’s now married with a kid, that got away. Studio is looking to fast track the project once a director is attached. (http://bit.ly/9Iog76)
Shawn Christensen’s 2010 spec ABDUCTION will be directed by John Singleton (FOUR BROTHERS). The thriller, with Taylor Lautner attached to star, is focused on a young man who discovers his own baby picture on a missing persons website. Shooting is set to begin in July. (http://bit.ly/dwmNe0)
Paramount is looking to option WONDLA, a new children’s book series by Tony DiTerlizzi, author of The Spiderwick Chroncles. Story is about a human orphan girl is raised in a hi-tech subterranean home by a mother who happens to be a robot. (http://bit.ly/bl0wBT)
First time writer Greg Russo’s spec DOWN sold to Relativity. Script is said to be 1408 meets BURIED set in an elevator. (http://bit.ly/dg9gre)
Spec script UNHITCHED by Will McArdle sold to Radar. Comedy is about a wedding planner who is forced into not planning her own wedding. (http://bit.ly/bL3HdY)
