It appears that Clint Eastwood has caught the musical bug.  Though the filmmaker has been trying to get his remake of A Star Is Born off the ground for the past couple of years, he’s run into quite a few stumbling blocks along the way.  First production was pushed back when star Beyonce became pregnant, then the multi-talented artist dropped out of the project altogether.  Esperanza Spalding is the latest choice for the female lead, but Eastwood keeps striking out when it comes to filling the male role.  Tom Cruise was courted to star last year, and the project has already seen Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn pass on the gig.

Now it appears that Eastwood has set his sights on another musical film to direct as his next project instead of A Star Is Born, opting to push that long-in-development project back in lieu of the prospect of taking over for Jon Favreau on the Broadway adaptation Jersey Boys.  Hit the jump for more.

Warner Bros. is second-guessing its musical adaptation of Jersey Boys.  The Jon Favreau-helmed project had been on track at the studio for a January production start date and Christmas 2013 release, but Variety now reports that WB has put the project into turnaround.  The film is based on the smash hit musical and tells the story of The Four Seasons, chronicling the group’s rise in the 1960s with such hits as “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man.” It’s a whole lot of fun, and having seen the show I’d liken it to a musical version of a lighter Goodfellas.

Hit the jump for more, including why Warner Bros. dropped the project and who Favreau is eyeing for the leads.

Jon Favreau has been keeping busy.  He’s reprised his role as Happy Hogan in Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3, he’s executive producing the upcoming NBC series Revolution, he recently joined Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street, and he’s attached to direct Disney’s Magic Kingdom, which will be based on the theme park attraction.  A few weeks ago, we reported that he was in talks to helm an adaptation of the smash hit musical Jersey Boys, and now we have confirmation that it will be his next movie.  I haven’t seen the musical, but per Adam: “the documentary-style musical tells the story of The Four Seasons, chronicling the group’s rise in the 1960s with such hits as ‘Sherry,’ ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ and ‘Walk Like a Man.’ It’s a ridiculously crowd-pleasing show but it’s also realistic and candid as far as the portrayal of the group’s ups and downs go.”

Hit the jump for more.

News concerning two highly anticipated movie musicals has landed online.  First up, Jon Favreau was reported as being the frontrunner to take the helm on producer Graham King’s feature film adaptation of the smash hit stage musical Jersey Boys early last month.  Now Deadline reports that Favreau has officially entered negotiations to bring the show to the big screen, and he actually seems like an inspired choice.  For those unaware, the documentary-style musical tells the story of The Four Seasons, chronicling the group’s rise in the 1960s with such hits as “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man.”  It’s a ridiculously crowd-pleasing show but it’s also realistic and candid as far as the portrayal of the group’s ups and downs go.

John Logan (Hugo) wrote the latest draft of Jersey Boys and the film is a high prirority for GK Films.  Favreau is also developing Magic Kingdom and Disney, but I’d imagine Jersey Boys will likely be his next feature.  Hit the jump for news concerning the feature film iteration of Wicked.

A feature film adaptation of the Broadway hit Jersey Boys has been in development for the past two years, but now it appears that producer Graham King (The Town) is getting serious about actually making the film.  The documentary-style musical tells the story of The Four Seasons, chronicling the group’s rise in the 1960s with such hits as “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man.” Back in January, Hugo and Rango scribe John Logan was tapped to write the screenplay, and now it appears that Jon Favreau is the frontrunner to direct the pic.  Hit the jump for more.

In October 2010, we reported that producer Graham King (The Town) had picked up the feature film rights to adapt the smash Broadway musical Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.  Today, THR reports that screenwriter John Logan will handle the script for the movie.  For those unfamiliar with the Four Seasons, they’re the 60s pop group who brought us songs like “Sherry,” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and “Walk Like a Man.”  Jersey Boys was a ridiculously massive hit on Broadway, and the musical has grossed over $1 billion since premiered in 2005.

Jersey Boys will re-team Logan and King as the two previously worked together on Hugo, which is likely to earn some Oscar nominations including one for Logan for Best Adapted Screenplay.  Although I had some problems with Hugo, Logan had an undeniably great 2011 career-wise.  He picked up screenwriting credits for Rango and Coriolanus, and he’s got the new James Bond flick, Skyfall, on deck for 2012.  Jersey Boys won’t be his first time adapting a musical; he previously adapted Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Last week, director Martin Scorsese released his first 3D film, Hugo.  Based on Brian Selznick’s The Invention of Hugo Cabret and written by John Logan, the film stars Asa Butterfield as a young boy secretly living in a train station in 1931 Paris.  As he attempts to piece together a puzzle that he’d been working on with his father, the results transform not only Hugo, but everyone he comes in contact with.  The impressive cast also includes Chloe Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sir Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour, Emily Mortimer, and Michael Stuhlbarg. You can watch a trailer here.

Anyway, last week I got to sit down with producer Graham King for an extended interview. During our wide ranging conversation, we talked about how Hugo came together, how he determines the budget for each production, and how much 3D added to the cost.  In addition, with King involved in so many other projects, I got updates on the Freddie Mercury biopic that he has in development with Sacha Baron Cohen playing Mercury, the Tomb Raider reboot, the Jersey Boys movie adaptation, The Battle of Britain, and The Vault which he’s developing with Johnny Depp‘s production company Infinitum Nihil.  Hit the jump for more.

With director Marin Scorsese‘s Hugo getting released tomorrow, Steve got the chance to sit down with producer Graham King over the weekend.  That interview produced a Sunday article with updates on the Tomb Raider reboot.  King has several promising projects in the works, though, so today we wanted to pass along what he had to say on two other films set up at his production company GK Films.

The first is the Queen movie, in which Sacha Baron Cohen will play Freddie Mercury.  King suggests Cohen may even sing the classic Queen songs.  Currently, there is no director attached and the script is still in development because King knows with a subject so iconic, “You’ve got to get it right.”  King also talked about his adaptation of the Broadway musical Jersey Boys.  That script is also in development, and while there will be some changes in the translation from stage to screen, the “DNA of the movie is going to be the same.”  Hit the jump for the full interview.

Producer Graham King’s GK Films (The Town) has picked up the feature film rights to the hit Broadway musical Jersey Boys.  The musical tells the true story of 1960s rock-n-roll sensation The Four Seasons.  Deadline reports that the deal was “groundbreaking” and “in the substantial seven-figures”.  Book writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice will write the script while King and GK Films partner Tim Headington will produce.  The film will use the music and lyrics of the group’s hits songs which include “Sherry”, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, “Rag Doll”, “Oh What a Night” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”.

Jersey Boys picked up four Tony awards (including Best Musical) and has sold over a $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide.  Although the musical debuted in 2005, the screen rights were only made available six weeks ago.  Jersey Boys now joins other high-profile movie musicals in production like Green Day’s American Idiot over at Playtone, and Universal is developing adaptations of Wicked and In the Heights.