"New Line Cinema has launched development of a feature version of the story of the Virgin Mary, buying Mike Rich's "Nativity" spec script in a pre-emptive purchase. Rich told Daily Variety the script covers the two-year period of Mary and Joseph's life, culminating in their leaving Nazareth and journeying 100 miles to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. Story's aimed at fleshing out key characters such as King Herod; John the Baptist's parents, Zachariah and Elizabeth; the shepherds who were witness to Jesus' birth; and the arrival of the three kings from the Orient. New Line hasn't yet assigned producers to the project..." (full details)
"Just days after selling the comedy pitch "Boss Go Home" in a pre-emptive purchase to Warner Bros. Pictures, scribe Matt Nix has been tapped to rewrite the studio's "The Giants of Groil," an adaptation of the British book "The Giants and the Joneses," by Julia Donaldson. "Groil" is an adventure story about two siblings who discover a beanstalk to the land of Groil in their backyard. In this magical place, the kids encounter giants and befriend the renegade, swashbuckling Jack of "Jack and the Beanstalk" fame..." (full details)
Fox 2000 has bought rights to the upcoming Royce Buckingham novel "Demon Keeper" for a live-action film that will be produced by AEI's Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong. The young adult novel will be published by Putnam in the fall. Story focuses on a Seattle teen who inherits a house filled with mischievous demons. The youth has to keep his charges in the house and thwart the Thin Man, a creepy character who wants to free and exploit them for evil purposes..." (full details)
