Peter Chernin

Chernin Entertainment and Gore Verbinski to Produce Pitch Described as “Futuristic JUNGLE BOOK”

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: September 28th, 2011 at 4:40 pm

Chernin Entertainment is near a deal to acquire an untitled pitch by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless after a bidding war.  Deadline neglects to offer a logline, but describes the story as “a futuristic Jungle Book.”  I am not sure how literally we’re meant to take the comparison, or even what the evolutionary Mowgli looks like.  Maybe he is raised by space wolves?

Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark of Chernin Entertainment will produce alongside Gore Verbinski and John Krauss of Blind Wink.  Sazama and Sharpless are also working with Verbinski on the live-action adaptation of the board game Clue.  Their first produced credit is still on the horizon, but in recent years Sazama and Sharpless have been tasked with a Missile Command, Flash Gordon, and Dracula Year Zero.  In case it’s relevant, I have included a synopsis of Rudyard Kipling’s book after the jump.

Universal Picks up New Adaptation of THE NUTCRACKER

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: July 25th, 2011 at 6:29 pm

Universal Pictures has just acquired a pitch for The Nutcracker, a new version of the classic tale. The live-action adventure movie comes from John Mann and Jon Gunn, and Heat Vision reports that Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) will produce. This version of the story will focus on a 12-year-old girl who receives a Nutcracker doll from her clockmaker-inventor grandfather on Christmas Eve. She then embarks on an adventure that night that includes a war featuring “a seven-headed Mouse King and his army of mice, curses and themes of ugliness and beauty.” No other plot details are known, but it appears that Universal is planning on a big-budget adventure movie.

Fox 2000 and Chernin Entertainment Acquire Upcoming Novel THE FLOOR OF HEAVEN

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 21st, 2011 at 2:31 pm

Fox 2000 and Chernin Entertainment have picked up the rights to Howard Blum’s upcoming fact-based novel The Floor of Heaven.  The story is set during the 1897 Yukon Gold Rush and follows the intertwining lives of Pinkerton agent Charlie Siringo, American marine and gold-discoverer George Carmack, and crime boss Soapy Smith.  Reading over the synopsis of the book, the story sounds like a brilliant mix between a western and a crime saga.  Blum’s novel doesn’t hit shelves until April 26th, but Deadline reports that the deal for the screen rights was low against high six-figures.

Hit the jump for a synopsis of the novel, which I have now added to my infinite must-read list.

Fox Adapting Atari Video Game MISSILE COMMAND

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 12th, 2011 at 8:57 am

Because movies based off of videogames always means high quality and big profits except in the case of never, Fox is adapting the 1980 Atari arcade game Missile Command.  According to Variety, screenwriters Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama (reboot of Flash Gordon and Dracula: Year Zero) will pen the script while Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark will produce.  Like pretty much every video game released in 1980, Missile Command lacks a story.  The object of the game is to protect cities from a barrage of missiles, possibly from a command center.

This is the third Atari videogame getting a film adaptation.  Universal picked up Asteroids back in July 2009 while Sony Pictures Animation acquired Rollercoaster Tycoon last May.  While the lack of a story beyond “Fight missiles” could free up Sharpless and Sazama to do something creative, I’m betting the film will ultimately be a generic military thriller with maybe a sci-fi spin for good measure.

Fox to Order 13 Episodes of Steven Spielberg Dinosaur Drama TERRA NOVA, Kyle Chandler in Talks to Star

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: April 20th, 2010 at 6:56 am

Last we checked in on Terra Nova, the in-development series that follows a futuristic family as they travel 150 million years to an era ridden with dinosaurs, there was talk that Fox might order it straight to series (rather than the usual pilot episode) to keep the elaborate production cost-efficient.  Deadline hears much of the same, and reports that the Fox has “unofficially” ordered 13 episodes of Terra and given producers Steven Spielberg and Peter Chernin the go-ahead to start staffing.

Behind the camera, that staff will be headed by Brannon Braga (24), who will serve as the showrunner and executive producer.  In front of the camera, EW reports that Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) is in talks to lead the cast.  Details after the jump:

Steven Spielberg and Fox Television May Travel Back to Prehistoric Times

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 17th, 2010 at 9:41 am

Steven Spielberg may never return to Jurassic Park again, but it looks like he hasn’t lost his love of dinosaurs.  Variety reports that Spielberg and producer Peter Chernin are in talks to join the drama series Terra Nova, which follows, “a family from 100 years in the future who travel back in time 150 million years to the strange and inhospitable environs of prehistoric Earth.”  Perhaps the protagonists will be named Marshall, Will, and Holly and they’ll be on a routine expedition.  It’s possible they may encounter the greatest earthquake the world’s ever known.

Since the project would require elaborate sets and special effects, Fox is talking about picking up the series without the creation of a pilot “because it would be too expensive to shut down and start up again during the downtime.”  Additionally, there’s the added expense of paying the guy whose sole job is to whistle the theme from Jurassic Park.

Author Dennis Lehane Gets into the Screenplay Game by Adapting His Short Story ANIMAL RESCUE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 10th, 2010 at 9:36 pm

Dennis Lehane has previously provided the source material for the critically acclaimed Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone as well as the upcoming Shutter Island and The Given Day.  Now Variety reports that he’s finally going to adapt one of his own stories because other writers shouldn’t have all the fun.  Lehane will adapt his short story Animal Rescue for Fox 2000 through Peter Chernin’s production company, Chernin Entertainment.  The story, via Variety, “revolves around a killing that results from a lost and contested pit bull. The story appeared in the Akashic Books anthology Boston Noir, which Lehane also edited.”

Lehane has been approached in the past to adapt his own work, but this is the first time he’s done it and it will also be his first feature film.  His only previous work for the screen were for three episodes of The Wire, so I don’t think there’s much to worry about as far as his screenwriting talent is concerned.

David Scarpa is Writing DAREDEVIL Reboot at Fox

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 5th, 2010 at 8:18 pm

The Hero Complex is reporting David Scarpa (The Day the Earth Stood Still) has been hired to write the reboot of Daredevil at the 20th Century Fox affiliated production company New Regency.  While rumors of Fox wanting to reboot Daredevil were online last year, this is the first news about anyone being hired.  While I’d love to say I’m excited by this hiring…I’m not.  More after the jump:

PLANET OF THE APES Reboot is Still On at 20th Century Fox

by Bob Starr    Posted: January 22nd, 2010 at 3:45 pm

Good news Planet of the Apes fans, it appears a reboot of the classic film franchise may in fact be moving forward.  While the project was originally thought to be dead, reports indicate that Twentieth Century Fox is eager to get a new film underway.  Sources close to the project have said, “…the studio is now more determined than ever to make the film”

Initial speculation about the film not happening came when writer Scott Frank (Minority Report, Marley & Me) left the project.  Many thought this was the end of Planet of the Apes, but as it turns out the opposite may be true.  Fox has turned the project over to producer Peter Chernin and hired writer Jamie Moss (Street Kings) to revise Frank’s version.  Furthermore, scribes Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (The Relic, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle), have returned to the fold to polish the dialogue.

Hit the jump to find out what direction the new Planet of the Apes might take.

A Fistful of News – 10 Extra News Stories to Wind Down Your Week

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 13th, 2009 at 2:18 pm

It’s been a pretty crazy week for news here at Collider as Steve landed the first photos and full synopses from dozens of upcoming films.  If you haven’t seen them, you can check them out here, here, here, and here.  That was on top of all the good stuff we bring you on a regular basis.  But even with all the news we posted this week, there’s still more and while we didn’t have time to give these stories their own articles, we wanted to make sure you knew about some other cool stuff from the past few days.

Hit the jump to read about how James Franco’s General Hospital stint folds into a larger art project he’s doing, South Park taking their shot at James Cameron’s Avatar, Spider-Man finally arrested for being a menace, and more.

Jonah Hill to Add Another Animated Comedy to Fox’s Primetime Roster

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 15th, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Not to cast aspersions on the network, but I’m willing to bet that in a dark dungeon filled with the screams of liberals, Rupert Murdoch sits atop a throne of skulls and wonders how he can make the Fox network the next [adult swim] but without the truly subversive programming that only late-night cable can provide.  Fox’s Sunday night line-up of “Animation Domination” has proved successful as the network recently picked up the back-nine of the “Family Guy”-spinoff, “The Cleveland Show”.

Now Fox has recruited Jonah Hill to fill their insatiable hunger for more animated programming.  Hit the jump to learn more while Murdoch enjoys another glass of puppy blood.

THIS! IS! SINAI! 20th Century Fox to Tell the Story of Moses in the Style of “300″

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: October 11th, 2009 at 8:08 pm

The 1956 Cecil B. DeMille classic “The Ten Commandments” is fantastic but it could have been so much better if it had used speed-ramping and buckets of blood.  Oh, and maybe a Jewish actor as Moses.  It now looks like we might get two out of three as 20^th Century Fox has just made a pre-emptive acquisition of a pitch to tell the story of Moses in the style of Zach Snyder’s “300″.  Hit the jump to murder some firstborn sons but in a really cool way.

Peter Chernin to Produce Another Show for Fox in the Style of SHAUN OF THE DEAD

by David Corbin    Posted: September 30th, 2009 at 12:51 am

Peter Chernin may have left his position as Chairman and CEO of Fox Entertainment group this past June but Fox TV continues to follow his lead. Having already had his vigilante crime drama “The Fallen” brought on by Fox, Chernin is set to executive produce a new dramedy in the style of “Shaun of the Dead.” For more details on the project hit the jump.

Leonardo DiCaprio Surfs THE DEEP BLUE GOODBYE

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 28th, 2009 at 9:07 pm

Former News Corp COO Peter Chernin is using his new production company to grab hold of various in-development projects at 20^th Century Fox.  Chernin has joined on to produce an action-thriller flick called “Man and Wife”, an adaptation of the critically acclaimed Greg Rucka comic series, “Queen and Country”, and most notably, “The Deep Blue Goodbye”, an adaptation of the John D. MacDonald mystery novel series with Leonardo DiCaprio on board to star.  Hit the jump to try and imagine DiCaprio doing a role that would have you leave the theater with a smile rather than just a reminder that Leonardo DiCaprio is a talented dramatic actor.

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