Screenhead

It sounds like Dean Parisot has become a reboot director with his recent new project at Universal Pictures. The studio is ready for Parisot to direct Slap Shot remake of the 1977 hockey comedy classic, starring the late Paul Newman.  

The original is about a fading player/coach (Newman) of a minor league hockey team.  He tries to hype the Charlestown Chiefs for a possible move south, the coach ramps up interest by turning his team into a group of brawling thugs.

Parisot last directed a remake of another comedy Fun With Dick and Jane.

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Universal Pictures has acquired the screen rights to David Wroblewski novel “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle,” which will be adapted into a feature film. Playtone’s Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and Harpo Films partners Oprah Winfrey and Kate Forte will mark their first collaboration on this film.

Sawtelle was published in September and has been at or near the top of the bestseller lists for 30 weeks. Oprah’s Book Club gave it a good boost when it was selected to their title list.

The story pivots around a mute teenager who lives on a farm in Wisconsin with a family that’s raised a coveted breed of dog for generations. Sawtelle’s father dies mysteriously after his uncle comes to stay with the family. Edgar’s widowed mother is now sleeping with his uncle. Edgar’s father comes back as a ghost to tell him that his uncle killed him. Antagonized by the revelation, Edgar tries to kill his uncle, but mistakenly kills the dog’s vet, which sends the youth fleeing into the woods with three of his dogs.

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HBO’s John Adams director Tom Hooper and scribe Christopher Hampton are set to work on Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment adaptation of John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden.”

First published in 1952, “East of Eden” is Steinbeck’s telling of the Cain and Abel story, again. The setting is California’s Salinas Valley of a multigenerational story that focuses on the Trask brothers and a woman who comes between the siblings.

With Hooper set to direct the studio hopes to put East of Eden in production later on this year.

Hooper told Variety that “East of Eden” was one of the formative literary influences of his teenage years. “There is an opportunity to show the sex, violence and darkness of Steinbeck’s work, along with the optimism and celebration of love,” said Hooper

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Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have in motion with Preston Whitmore to write and direct Zoom, a music-themed film. Pharrell Williams will compose the score and soundtrack.

Zoom is a story centered on a troubled West Virginia youth who attends a music academy and discovers his voice and a place in the world.

Recently, Whitmore wrote, directed and produced This Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

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Two major films have been pushed back by Universal Pictures: Horror movie The Wolfman from April 3 to November 6, 2009 and Ridley Scott’s Nottingham out of 2009 completely.

Also, Universal’s The Fast and the Furious 4 will now open on April 3, rather than June 12.

Nottingham starring Russell Crowe, will open in 2010, but no specific date is set.

Nottingham hasn’t even started shooting yet, not until March the latest.

 

 

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Universal Pictures is working with Keanu Reeves to star in 47 Ronin. The project is an epic period based on the true tale of a band of samurai swordsmen who avenged the death of their master in 18th century Japan.

Chris Morgan, who co-wrote Wanted and penned the upcoming Fast and Furious.  I guess, though, there won’t be any guns or cars in the film – just swords.

In 47 Ronin, Reeves play one of the swordsmen; the group and their master are revered in Japan for their revenge attack on Dec. 14, 1702.

According to Variety, the story will be told in a stylized version that mixes fantasy elements of the sort seen in The Lord of the Rings with gritty battle scenes similar to those in films such as Gladiator.

Once the director is hired the plan is to begin shooting next year.

 

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Variety reports that Universal Pictures has set a deal with Robert Ludlum’s estate that gives them exclusive rights to the Jason Bourne character and first look at other Ludlum novels.

The move makes a lot of sense for Universal as the Bourne franchise has proven to be a big success and has become one of the studio’s biggest franchises. In fact, this deal locks in their right to move ahead with a fourth movie which actor Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass have signed on for. The film is being prepped for a Summer 2010 release.

This deal also gives the studio the first option of Ludlum’s other works, many of which are being worked into movies right now, including The Matarese Circle, The Osterman Weekend, The Chancellor Manuscript and The Sigma Protocol.

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From Variety comes word that Universal Pictures is set to remake South Korean sci-fi thriller The Host.

The original film followed a giant squidlike creature that terrorizes a city. It is when the creature grabs a little girl that her dysfunctional family must come together to rescue her.

Fredrik Bond, known for his commercials, will make his feature film debut on the project. Mark Poirier is adapting the script; Gore Verbinski, Roy Lee, Doug Davison and Paul Brooks will produce.

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And one more ‘graphic novel’ is making its jump to the big-screen. This time around, it is Universal Pictures who has picked up the film rights to Adam Cogan and Ryan Cody’s comics series Villains.

The story follows a aimless 20-something Nick Corrigan who finds out that his neighbor used to be the notorious supervillain known as Hardliner, who has retired and living in hiding for the past few decades. Nick decides to blackmail him into teaching him the art of supercrime instead of turning him over to the authorities. However, he gets more than what he bargains for.

The script is being adapted by Matt Jennison and Brent Strickland. No director is attached yet.

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The trades are reporting that Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to disaster epic Skyscraper.

Similar to Towering Inferno, the film will see the destruction of a super-skyscraper being built by a developer in Chicago, who plans on making a mile-high structure. When the tower begins to falter, a crew must recue the city from mayhem.

It is being produced by Neal Moritz (Animals).

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