Three-year-old A24 is partnering with Brad Pitt’s Plan B and Adele Romanski to produce and finance coming-of-age story “Moonlight.”
Barry Jenkins will direct from his own his script, based on the Tarell McCraney play “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue.” The movie is set in Miami during the war on drugs.
A24 is financing and owns worldwide rights with filming to take place in Miami in the fall. Jenkins directed 2009’s “Medicine for Melancholy.”
A24 announced in June that it was producing real-estate drama “The Liar’s Ball” with director J.C. Chandor, Neal Dodson and Anna Gerb. A24’s top box office performers have been “Ex Machina,” which has crossed $25 million domestically, and James Franco’s “Spring Breakers,” which grossed $14 million in 2013.
It also teamed with DirecTV to release release movies exclusively on the satellite TV provider before they hit theaters, including Ryan Reynolds’ “Mississippi Grind”; Charlize Theron’s thriller “Dark Places”; the Aubrey Plaza-starrer “Life After Beth”; Atom Egoyan’s “Captive,” starring Reynolds; and Julius Avery’s directorial debut, “Son of a Gun,” with Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites.
“We are extremely proud to be involved with this heartfelt, groundbreaking film,” said A24 in a statement. “The opportunity to work with Barry, one of the most talented and daring contemporary directors, and Plan B, who consistently provide a home for filmmakers, is very exciting. We look forward to the collaboration.”
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‘Lost City Of Z’ begins production
James Gray’s long-gestating adventure has commenced shooting in Belfast and stars Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland.
MICA Entertainment finances Lost City Of Z, while Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner produce via Plan B alongside Anthony Katagas and Dale Johnson.
MadRiver Pictures’ Marc Butan serves as executive producer with MICA’s Julie B May and Glenn Murray. Sierra/Affinity represents international sales and CAA handles US rights.
The film, based on David Grann’s novel about an explorer who went missing in the Brazilian Amazon in the 1920s, is expected to shoot for five weeks in Belfast before relocating to Colombia throughout September and October.
The project has circled for years. Lotus Entertainment’s previous incarnation Inferno Entertainment introduced it to the market in Cannes in 2010, when Pitt was lined up to star.
Tom Holland Joins ‘Lost City Of Z’
Tom Holland, who will suit up as Peter Parker in Sony’s Spider-Man reboot being directed by Jon Watts, will take on another adventure first, joining the cast of Lost City Of Z, the big-screen adaptation of David Grann’s bestselling book. Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller and Robert Pattinson star in the pic, which follows conscripted soldier and born explorer Percy Fawcett (Hunnam) who disappeared in the 1920s while searching for a mythical city in the Amazon jungles of Brazil that he believed he discovered on a prior expedition. James Gray wrote and is directing the movie, which began shooting today in Belfast before moving to Colombia through the fall.
MICA Entertainment is financing the pic, and Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner are producing via their Plan B Entertainment along with Anthony Katagas and Dale Johnson. MadRiver Pictures’ Marc Butan is executive producing as are MICA’s Julie B. May and Glenn Murray. Sierra/Affinity is repping international sales and CAA has domestic rights to the film.
HBO Looks For New ‘Lewis & Clark’ Director
HBO is looking for a new director on its “Lewis & Clark” miniseries, which has shut down production in Canada.
Director John Curran, who co-wrote part of the mini, has exited the project, HBO confirmed. News of the shutdown and director switch was first reported by Deadline. “Lewis & Clark” stars Casey Affleck and Matthias Schoenaerts as the famed 19th century explorers who went on a remarkable three-year journey to map the western United States.
“Lewis & Clark,” which has been long in the works at HBO, has a glossy pedigree as a co-production of Tom Hanks’ Playtone banner, Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and National Geographic Studios.
Disney’s Feast Director Takes the Battling Boy Movie!
Patrick Osborne has signed on to direct Paramount Pictures’ Battling Boy movie!. The Tracking Board has the news, reporting that the Academy Award winning director of Walt Disney Animation’s short film “Feast” will helm the big screen adaptation of Paul Pope‘s acclaimed graphic novel.
Published in 2013, Battling Boy was named one of NPR’s best books of that year. It is official described as follows:
Monsters roam through Arcopolis, swallowing children into the horrors of their shadowy underworld. Only one man is a match for them – the genius vigilante Haggard West.
Unfortunately, Haggard West is dead.
Arcopolis is desperate, but when its salvation comes in the form of a twelve-year-old demigod, nobody is more surprised than Battling Boy himself.
It’s time to meet an electrifying new hero.
Set up through Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment, the Battling Boy movie will be produced by Sarah Esberg and Jeremy Kleiner.
