Good-Sounding Movie Ideas

[JCVaughn]

Title:       Don't Tell My Mother
Log line: An acclaimed editor is forced to work for the third-rate porn magazine "Thruster," so he must find a way to turn the magazine around in order to save his career all the while keeping his scandalous career a secret from his family and the woman of his dreams.
Writer:    Richard Parker (author)
Agent:     Scott Miller, Trident Media Group
Buyer:     MGM
Price:       n/a
Genre:     Comedy
Logged:   11/24/03
More:      Manuscript.  Jennifer Klein will produce.  Project is currently out to screenwriters.

[JCVaughn]

Title:       The Town
Log line: A bank robber becomes interested in a woman during a bank heist and hides his identity to woo her. Their courtship is complicated by an FBI agent who is also falling for the woman.
Writer:   Chuck Hogan (author)
Agent:    ICM
Buyer:    Paramount
Price:      n/a
Genre:    Drama
Logged:  11/21/03
More:     To be adapted from Chuck Hogan’s novel by the same name.  Dick Wolf's Wolf Films will produce.

Dumb title, but other than Dragnet this year Dick Wolfe's done okay by me

[JCVaughn]

Title:         Astro City
Log Line:  Set in a fantastic world, superhumans, not regular beings, are the norm along with rampaging monsters, invading aliens, supervillains and mad scientists.
Writer:      Jonathan Alpers
Agent:       n/a
Buyer:       Panama Leo
Price:         n/a
Genre:       Action adventure
Logged:     11//20/03
More:        To be adapted from the comicbook series created by Kurt Busiek with interior art by Brent Anderson.  Series first published in the U.S. in 1995 at Image Comics and since released in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Brazil.  Series is now published by Wildstorm/Heritage.  Ben Barenholtz will produce.  Barenholtz, Busiek and Alpers are partners in Panama Leo.

[JCVaughn]

Title:       Stranger Than Fiction
Log line: An IRS auditor's life is interrupted by the sound of a personal narrator who knows his every thought, feeling and action, including when and where he will die.
Writer:    Zach Helm
Agent:     n/a
Buyer:     Senator Intl.
Price:       n/a
Genre:     Comedy
Logged:   11/20/03
More:      Lindsay Doran will produce.

[JCVaughn]

Title:        The Three Investigators: The Mystery of Skeleton Island
Log Line: In Southern California, three teen detectives operate out of their secret office trailer hidden in a salvage yard.
Writer:     David Howard
Agent:      n/a
Buyer:      Studio Hamburg International
Price:        n/a
Genre:      Mystery
Logged:    11/13/03
More:       To be adapted from the sixth book in "Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators" series by Robert Arthur.

Bad description. These books were meant to made into films!

[JCVaughn]

Title:         Astro City
Log Line:  Set in a fantastic world, superhumans, not regular beings, are the norm along with rampaging monsters, invading aliens, supervillains and mad scientists.
Writer:      Jonathan Alpers
Agent:       n/a
Buyer:       Panama Leo
Price:         n/a
Genre:       Action adventure
Logged:     11//20/03
More:        To be adapted from the comicbook series created by Kurt Busiek with interior art by Brent Anderson.  Series first published in the U.S. in 1995 at Image Comics and since released in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Brazil.  Series is now published by Wildstorm/Heritage.  Ben Barenholtz will produce.  Barenholtz, Busiek and Alpers are partners in Panama Leo.

Astro City Optioned
Busiek Teams With Screenwriter & Producer

November 24, 2003
Variety is reporting that comic book scribe Kurt Busiek is teaming up with producer Ben Barenholtz and screenwriter Jonathan Alpers to form Panama Leo Productions, a company whose main purpose appears to be shopping the Astro City property to Hollywood studios.  Busiek's Astro City, currently being published as a mini-series by Homage (DC), and collected in a series of graphic novels, is an episodic anthology set in the eponymous metropolis where superheroes and supervillains live side-by-side with ordinary folks.  By teaming with a screenwriter and producer, Busiek should be able to exercise more control over the project, present the studios with a more or less complete package, and cut the potential development time considerably.

[JCVaughn]

Title:        Blood and Chocolate
Log line:  A secret society of werewolves lives in modern society.
Writer:     Ehren Kruger
Agent:      Paradigm
Buyer:      MGM
Price:        Seven figures
Genre:      Horror
Logged:    1/20/04
More:       To be adapted from Annette Curtis Klause's popular teen horror novel. Daniel Bobker will produce. Ehren Kruger will executive produce.  Sanji Senaka will direct.

[JCVaughn]

Title:        Grendel
Log Line: Centers on the adopted granddaughter of the notoriously sadistic yet rich and graceful Hunter Rose -- aka the original Grendel.
Writer:     Carl Lund
Agent:      n/a
Buyer:      John Wells Productions
Price:        n/a
Genre:      Fantasy
Logged:    1/5/04
More:       Option.  To be adapted from the graphic novel by Matt Wagner.  John Wells Productions will produce in association with Dark Horse Entertainment and Arsenal Entertainment.

[JCVaughn]

This really looks like a gem:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony/good_bye_lenin.html

Directed by: Wolfgang Becker
Cast: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Chulpan Khamatova, Maria Simon, Florian Lukas, Alexander Beyer, Burghart Klaussner, Franziska Troegner, Michael Gwisdek

October, 1989 was a bad time to fall into a coma if you lived in East Germany -- and this is precisely what happens to Alex's proudly socialist mother. Alex has a big problem on his hands when she suddenly awakens eight months later. Her heart is so weak that any shock might kill her. And what could be more shocking than the fall of the Berlin Wall and the triumph of capitalism in her beloved East Germany? To save his mother, Alex transforms the family apartment into an island of the past, a kind of socialist-era museum where his mother is lovingly duped into believing that nothing has changed. What begins as a little white lie turns into a major scam as Alex's sister and selected neighbors are recruited to maintain the elaborate ruse -- and keep her believing that Lenin really did win after all!

Five years after his award-winning Das Leben ist Eine Baustelle (Life is All You Get), filmmaker Wolfgang Becker presents GOOD BYE, LENIN! Fast and funny, intriguing and touching, Becker tells a story that is as unique as it irresistible, an alternative history to that of the recent German past: a human story of the reunification not only of an entire nation, but of a family living in East Berlin. Cast as the two leads are performers who have each won the German Film Award, Daniel Brühl (Das Weisse Rauchen [The White Noise], Schule [No More School]) and Katrin Sass (Heidi M.). They are wonderfully supported by Russian actress Chulpan Khamatova (Luna Papa, Tuvalu), newcomer Maria Simon, Alexander Beyer (Sonneallee [Sun Alley]) and Florian Lukas (Absolute Giganten [Gigantic]). GOOD BYE, LENIN! also features original music by the French composer Yann Tiersen (Amelie, The Dreamlife of Angels).

[JCVaughn]

Even though they get the date wrong (Captain Marvel dates from the '40s) and the company mostly wrong (DC does on CM now, but he started at Fawcett), I'm really looking forward to this...

Title:       Shazam!
Log line: A mild-mannered young man becomes Captain Marvel, the world's mightiest mortal, when he says the magic word "Shazam!"
Writer:    Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow
Agent:     CAA and Wayne Alexander of Alexander Nau Lawrence and Frumes
Buyer:     New Line Cinema
Price:       n/a
Genre:     Action-Adventure
Logged:   2/2/04
More:      To be adapted from DC Comic’s 1970’s comic book. William Goldman was previously working on the script in March 2003. Michael Uslan will executive produce.  First set up in December 2002.

[JCVaughn]

Title:       Have Spacesuit, Will Travel
Log line: A high school senior who yearns to go to the moon, wins a real spacesuit in a contest but is forced to sell it for college tuition. Deciding to take one last walk in the suit in his backyard, he playfully calls out on the radio only to unexpectedly contact a passing spaceship. The adventure that follows finds the very fate of Earth in his hands.
Writer:    David Reynolds
Agent:     CAA and atty. Melanie Cook
Buyer:     Warner Bros. Pictures
Price:       n/a
Genre:     Science-Fiction
Logged:   1/30/04
More:      To be adapted from Robert A. Heinlein’s 1958 science fiction classic.  David Heyman’s Heydey Productions will produce. No director is attached yet.

[JCVaughn]

This could be very good or very bad.


Title:       Bride of Frankenstein
Log line: A young woman attending college is haunted by someone else's memories, and she gradually discovers that she died and was then unnaturally brought back to life.
Writer:    Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Agent:     CAA and the Firm
Buyer:     Universal Pictures
Price:       n/a
Genre:     Horror
Logged:   2/4/04
More:      Berman and Pulcini will rewrite and direct this remake of the 1935 film.  Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer will produce.

[Delvie]

Title:    SHI
Log Line:  A young woman torn between virtues of two cultures and two religions must find herself while searching for justice for her family's brutal tragedy.  A reluctant soldier trained and drafted by her grandfather to regain the honor of the family name, Ana battles inner demons every bit as dangerous as the Yakuza boss & legacy that she is destined to confront.  
Writer: Willie Tucci & Kevin Bernhardt
Agent:  Mimi Gitlin  (Lion Eyes Entertainment)
Buyer:  ?  
Price:    n/a  
Genre:  Action adventure  
More:   To be adapted from the comicbook character of the same name created by Wild Willie Tucci.




 

Sorry JC. Since nobody had mentioned Shi here yet, I couldn't help myself.

;)

[JCVaughn]

Dude!

This topic isn't for me... it's for everyone!!!

JCV

[Delvie]

Yah, but... you're the ring leader

[JCVaughn]

Yah, but... you're the ring leader

Too funny!

[JCVaughn]

Title:        Ghosts of Vesuvius
Log line:  Centers on the volcanic eruption that leveled Pompeii in 79 A.D.
Writer:     Charles Pellegrino (author)
Agent:      n/a
Buyer:      20th Century Fox
Price:        n/a
Genre:      Drama Disaster
Logged:    2/17/04
More:       Book -- soon to be published.  James Cameron optioned. Lightstorm Entertainment's James Cameron, Jon Landau and Rae Sanchini will produce.  No word on whether Cameron will direct as yet.

[JCVaughn]

everything EXCEPT the title...

Title:        Clancy of the Overflow
Log Line: Centers on a crack horseman.
Writer:     Patrick Edgeworth
Agent:      n/a
Buyer:      Mark Pennell
Price:        n/a
Genre:      Drama
Logged:    2/17/04
More:       Based on a key character from the 1982 "The Man From Snowy River."  Mark Pennell to produce.  Simon Wincer to direct.  Hugh Jackman to possibly star in.  Film budgeted at approximately $25 million.

[JCVaughn]

Title:         Brimstone
Log Line:  An American fighter pilot is shot down over Nazi-occupied France and is rescued by the French Resistance.
Writer:      David Ranes
Agent:       Atty. Kelly Crabb
Buyer:       WhiteLight Entertainment
Price:         n/a
Genre:       War Drama
Logged:     2/25/04
More:        Based on a true story.  WhiteLight Entertainment's Gerald Molen to produce.

I know... French helping Americans. It sounds far-fetched.

[JCVaughn]

Title:       Inkheart
Log line: A young girl's father has the power to bring characters from books to life by reading those books aloud. When a power-hungry villain from a rare children's fable kidnaps the man, his daughter bands with a group of friends both real and imagined to set things right.
Writer:    Cornelia Funke (author)
Agent:     n/a
Buyer:     New Line Cinema
Price:       n/a
Genre:     Children's Fantasy
Logged:   2/25/04
More:      Best-selling novel by the German author.  Deal also covers Funke’s subsequent two volumes in the planned trilogy.

[JCVaughn]

Title:         Expecting Nicole
Log Line:  When a young woman is about to lose her job as a proofreader at a publishing house, her best friend saves her by telling the boss she's pregnant.  She then can't be legally fired, but a big novelist for the publishing house who had a fling with her believes he's the father.
Writer:     Patti Carr and Lara Runnels
Agent:      n/a
Buyer:      CFP Productions
Price:        n/a
Genre:      Romantic Comedy
Logged:    2/24/04
More:       Lynda Obst and CFP Productions' Christine Peters to produce. CFP Productions will operate as an offshoot of Robert Evans's company.


I have no idea how this will come off, but I thought of something similar during an Employment Law class last year.

[JCVaughn]

Title:       The Ice Harvest
Log line: Two embezzlers get rich by fleecing strip clubs and massage parlors but end up snowbound.
Writer:    Robert Benton and Richard Russo
Agent:     CAA (Benton) and  IPG (Russo)
Buyer:     Focus Features
Price:       n/a
Genre:     Dark Comedy
Logged:   2/24/04
More:      Based on Scott Phillips’ novel.  Bona Fide's Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa optioned and will produce.  Harold Ramis will direct.  John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton and Monica Bellucci will star.

The magic phrase is: Harold Ramis will direct.

And "Monica Bellucci will star" is up there.

[JCVaughn]

Title:       Speed Dating
Log line: A man finds the girl of his dreams during a speed dating event, but must deal with the sleazebag organizer who views the business as a scam that allows him to hit on hot chicks.
Writer:    Beth Buck and Courtney Booth
Agent:     n/a
Buyer:     20th Century Fox
Price:       n/a
Genre:     Romantic Comedy
Logged:   2/20/04
More:      Luke Greenfield will develop and produce the script.  Greenfield will possibly direct.

[JCVaughn]

It's a match that genre movie and comic fans could only before now dream about: Robert Rodriguez adapting Frank Miller's Sin City for Dimension Films. Ohhhh yeah.

According to Variety, Rodriguez has already filmed the opening to the movie with Josh Hartnett and Marley Shelton. Rodriguez will cast the remaining roles and begin filming in earnest in March.

As fans of Rodriguez work know (thanks to the "10 Minute Film School" featurettes on the DVD versions of his films), the filmmaker is extremely quick in his production times, thanks in no small part to having a finger on virtually every aspect of filmmaking himself (he wrote, directed, shot, designed, edited, scored, and produced Once Upon a Time in Mexico). Additonally, according to the director, his Spy Kids 3 was shot went from being in front of cameras to being in front of audiences in roughly six months.

Dimension has not yet said when they expect to release Sin City, but, given the above, it could be as soon as this fall.

Rather than adapting one single storyline, the film will incorporate storylines from three of Frank Miller's graphic novels including: Sin City, That Yellow Bastard and The Big Fat Kill.

"This is the first time a graphic novel will be treated with absolute respect in how it is brought to the life. My pitch to Frank was that I didn't want to adapt Sin City, but rather translate it to the screen. I also wanted him involved in every aspect of the production, including sharing in the directing. If you look at his books, you see that in a way they are already the best written, shot, and directed 'movies' never seen in a theater," said Robert Rodriguez in a release from Dimension.

"We are tremendously excited to have such a visionary filmmaker as Robert Rodriguez bring his unique perspective to Sin City," said Dimension Chairman Bob Weinstein.

According to teh studio, Miller said he welcomed the chance to be so closely involved with the director: "Robert came to me with a bold, coherent plan to bring my baby to the screen. This is gonna be a whole new kind of crime movie."

Rodriguez and producer Elizabeth Avellan will produce the project through their Troublemaker Studios label.

[Doc Furious]

Rodriguez also inked to do Edgar Rice Burrough's immortal JOHN CARTER OF MARS series. :o