movie deal

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John McAfee Sells Rights for 'Honest' Biopic

Anti-virus pioneer cuts deal with Montreal company

(Newser) - Still stuck in Guatemala on the heels of a nervous breakdown , John McAfee has at least one thing going for him: a movie deal. The anti-virus pioneer has sold the rights to his life story to Impact Future Media, a Montreal-based company that's now seeking partners and investors for...

Barefoot Bandit Nabs $1.3M Movie Deal

But Colton Harris-Moore won't be living large, he'll pay back his victims

(Newser) - The Barefoot Bandit, whose cross-country crime spree brought him folk outlaw status, has reportedly signed a movie deal worth as much as $1.3 million with 20th Century Fox. But 20-year-old Colton Harris-Moore won't see a penny for the rights of his life story: It instead goes to pay...

King Near Movie, TV Deal for Dark Tower

Ron Howard attached as direct

(Newser) - Roland Deschain may soon be gunslinging his way onto screens big and small. Stephen King is in talks to turn his Dark Tower books into a TV series and a movie trilogy directed by Ron Howard, Deadline New York reports. Both Universal's Imagine Entertainment and Warner Bros.' Weed Road...

Stars Bomb at the Box Office
 Stars Bomb at the Box Office 

Stars Bomb at the Box Office

(Newser) - Hollywood executives are scratching their heads over why so many mega-wattage stars are failing to fill movie houses. A record number of usual box-office successes like Denzel Washington, Will Ferrell, Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks came up short, in some cases not even attracting enough viewers for producers to break...

Seuss' Lorax Slated to Be 3D Movie

(Newser) - Dr Suess' green-themed story The Lorax is becoming the first of his works to get the 3D treatment, Variety reports. Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment plan to release the animated picture in 2012, on what would have been the author's 108th birthday. His 1971 book told the story of a...

Bridget Jones 3 in the Works

(Newser) - Bridget Jones and her oversized underwear are coming back for a third movie, Variety reports, with Renée Zellweger set to reprise the title character. Cate Blanchett is also on board for Indian Summer, expected to be based on Bridget Jones’ Diary author Helen Fielding’s columns for a British...

Levi Shops Palin Tell-All
 Levi Shops Palin Tell-All 

Levi Shops Palin Tell-All

(Newser) - Levi Johnston is poised to strike it big with a book about the Palins and a possible feature film role alongside an ex–Miss Oregon, he tells New York. His hulking bodyguard/publicist, Tank Jones, says Levi is still shopping the book. As for Levi's rumored TV effort, it won't be...

MLK's Kids Bicker Over Spielberg Biopic

Siblings plan to fight Dexter King's sale of movie rights to their father's life

(Newser) - The sale of the movie rights to Martin Luther King Jr.'s life has revived the feud among his three surviving children, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Martin Luther King III and Bernice King say their brother Dexter—chief executive of the King estate—only informed them of the plans for...

Credit Crunch Saps Funding for Indie Films

Drop-off in foreign rights sales leaves producers looking for cash

(Newser) - Independent film producers are losing a once-reliable source of funding, the sale of foreign-distribution rights. Traditionally, the demand for American movies has been so high that producers can sell the rights to distribute the film—in many cases, even before it’s finished—in order to cover costs. But the...

Facebook the Movie? It's in the Works

(Newser) - Facebook is going Hollywood, PC World reports. West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin has signed on with Sony to pen a movie about the social networking site’s founding. The movie will probably focus on Mark Zuckerberg’s initial work while at Harvard. But Sorkin may have some research to do...

'Friends' Clique Ready for Flick?

Inspired by SATC 's success, Aniston et al, ready for big screen reprisal

(Newser) - Inspired by Sex and the City's wild silver-screen success, all six cast members—including holdout Jennifer Aniston—are on board to reunite for the big-screen adaptation of the hit sitcom “Friends,” the Daily Mail reports. Produced by Warner Brothers, Friends: The Movie would get under way within the...

Gyllenhaal Lands Lead in Prince of Persia

Will star in the film adaptation of the cult favorite video game

(Newser) - Jake Gyllenhaal has scored the lead in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a Jerry Bruckheimer adaptation of the popular video game, according to the Hollywood Reporter. In the blockbuster fantasy adventure, Gyllenhaal will play a 6th century Persian prince who, along with a feisty princess played by up-and-comer...

DC Madam to the Big Screen?

Agents are shopping a book and documentary of the famed flesh peddler

(Newser) - The DC madam may have committed suicide last week to avoid jail, but her story lives on. Literary agents are discussing doing a documentary on Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the New York Post reports, and have lined up biographer C. David Heymann to write a book about the sex industry, with...

Gibson to Return to Big Screen
 Gibson to Return to Big Screen 

Gibson to Return to Big Screen

Will play a good cop in Edge of Darkness

(Newser) - Hollywood honchos said he’d never work in this town again, but Mel Gibson has managed to land his first role since his drunken anti-Semitic antics 2 years ago, Variety reports. Oddly enough, the actor, who's still on probation imposed following the July 2006 DUI incident, will play a police...

Cruise Kid Lands Gig in Will Smith Flick

Tom is 'so proud of' Connor, 13, 'for really doing this on his own'

(Newser) - Which gets you further in Hollywood: having Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as parents or having Will Smith as your close family friend? Either way, Connor Cruise, the famed actors' adopted 13-year-old son, has scored himself a big screen debut in Smith's upcoming drama, "Seven Pounds," People.com...

Absent Original Scripts, Studios Reel in Lit

Post-strike surge doesn't materialize, so execs tap books, mags

(Newser) - Movie execs counting on a flood of scripts after the writers strike wrapped up in February are snug and dry and turning to books and magazine articles instead, Variety reports. Plump with new fiscal-year budgets, studios are snatching up literary pieces faster than in years past; prison escapes, sunken-ship salvage,...

Zoo Will Let Polar Cubs Die, Rather Than Raise by Hand

Nuremburg doesn't want 'Knutomania'

(Newser) - Officials at a Nuremburg zoo have vowed not to rescue the cubs of two polar bears who gave birth about a month ago, even though one is showing signs of disinterest in her offspring, leaving them to cry plaintively for long periods of time. Zoo officials say they don't want...

17 Stories