Spielberg Digs Up Clues
Steven Spielberg is having a Clues encounter of the 39 kind.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker is pumping up his already crowded slate with another would-be blockbuster. DreamWorks has acquired the big-screen rights to The 39 Clues, a multiplatform adventure series hitting stores in September from Scholastic Mediaa publisher that knows a thing or two about launching mega-franchises, having foisted a little something called Harry Potter on us Yanks.
As first reported in Variety, Spielberg will produce the film and could also direct should one of several other projects he’s been developing fail to get off the ground. A search is already under way for a screenwriter to adapt the franchise.
Scholastic will roll out Clues over a period of two years, beginning with the first installment, The Maze of Bones. Nine other literary adventures are expected to follow, accompanied by a set of collectible cards and an online game that will run for two years and give Netizens the chance to solve a mystery and win a $10,000 grand prize.
“The 39 Clues takes creative leaps to expand the story experience from the pages of the books to multiple stages of discovery and imagination,” Spielberg said in a statement.
The franchise centers around the most powerful family in the world, the Cahills, whose relatives include Napoleon and Houdini. In the first book, Cahill matriarch Grace alters her will at the last minute to give her descendants a choice: Either accept $1 million or receive one of 39 clues hidden around the globe that will reveal the source of the family’s power.
Based on Maze of Bones author Rick Riordan’s outline for the 10-book series, there would be enough material for as many as three or four movies.
After reviving Indiana Jones last month to the delight of moviegoers and his accountant (the sequel has grossed nearly $400 million worldwide and counting), Spielberg has plenty in the pipeline.
The pending projects include The Trial of the Chicago 7, chronicling the 1968 protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the high-profile conspiracy trial that followed; Lincoln, a presidential biopic starring Liam Neeson; and two Tintin adventures he’s developing with Peter Jackson.
Spielberg’s The 39 Clues
DreamWorks has acquired rights to The 39 Clues, Scholastic’s 10-book fantasy adventure series which will launch on September 9th 2008. Steven Spielberg is considering directing the project. Scholastic is hoping to replicate the success of the Harry Potter book series.
Benjamin Franklin, Mozart, Napoleon and Houdini are just some of the relatives of the most powerful family in the world - the Cahills. Grace, the Cahill clan matriarch is found dead just moments after she has changed her will, giving her descendants the choice between $1 million or a clue. Yes, one of 39 clues which reveal the source of the family’s powers. The series will follow two young Cahills, Amy, 14, and Dan, 11, who enter into a race against other branches of the family to be the first to find the 39 clues that will lead to ultimate power.
“The 39 Clues takes creative leaps to expand the story experience from the pages of the books to multiple stages of discovery and imagination,” Spielberg said in a statement.
The books will come out once every two or three months, released over the next two years, the multimedia adventure will include a set of collectible cards and an online game with a $10,000 grand prize. If Spielberg were to direct The 39 Clues, it would be after he finishes production on the TinTin series and his announced Abraham Lincoln biopic.
source: Variety
Eagle Eye Movie Trailer - What Do You Think?
Paramount/DreamWorks just released a new theatrical trailer for Eagle Eye, which I’m guessing must be attached to prints of Wanted (which hits theaters this Friday). The new D.J. Caruso-directed fast-paced race-against-time-thriller which stars Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan as “two strangers who become the pawns of a mysterious woman they have never met, but who seems to know their every move. Realizing they are being used to further her diabolical plot, they must work together to outwit the woman before she has them killed.”
The trailer picks up where the teaser left off, and doesnt let up. Is it just me or is this film looking better and better? The action looks intense, and need I remind you that the movie is based on an original idea from Steven Spielberg?! Watch the trailer below and tell me what you think in the comments!
Watch the trailer in High Definition on Yahoo. Eagle Eye hits theaters on September 26th 2008.
Downey Rides ’Em Cowboys
Iron Man has saddled up to his next project.
Robert Downey Jr. is in talks to star in Cowboys & Aliens, a Western and sci-fi hybrid flick based on a graphic novel that has been making the Hollywood development rounds for roughly 10 years.
The story revolves around an Old West battle between Apache and a group of settlers, led by a Union Army gunslinger played by Downey, which gets interrupted when a spaceship lands on their Arizona battleground. The cowboys and the natives are then forced to team up to fend off the aliens.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Iron Man and Children of Men writers Hawk Ostby and Mark Fergus penned the winning draft of the flick, which is shaping up to serve as DreamWorks/Universal’s tentpole film for summer 2010.