Showing posts with label Project Xs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Project Xs. Show all posts

Monday, September 9, 2013

"Stranger" Teaser For a New Novel

The mystery of the Bad Robot trailer from a few weeks ago has been revealed to be a book titled "S." Yep just the letter S. The book is by Doug Dorst (Alive in Necropolis) based on a concept by JJ Abrams for release on October 29. I would not be surprised if Abrams hopes to use the book as a way to get funding for a movie from one of the studios.

Book description:
One book. Two readers. A world of mystery, menace, and desire.

A young woman picks up a book left behind by a stranger. Inside it are his margin notes, which reveal a reader entranced by the story and by its mysterious author. She responds with notes of her own, leaving the book for the stranger, and so begins an unlikely conversation that plunges them both into the unknown.

The book: Ship of Theseus, the final novel by a prolific but enigmatic writer named V.M. Straka, in which a man with no past is shanghaied onto a strange ship with a monstrous crew and launched onto a disorienting and perilous journey.

The writer: Straka, the incendiary and secretive subject of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a revolutionary about whom the world knows nothing apart from the words he wrote and the rumors that swirl around him.

The readers: Jennifer and Eric, a college senior and a disgraced grad student, both facing crucial decisions about who they are, who they might become, and how much they’re willing to trust another person with their passions, hurts, and fears.

S., conceived by filmmaker J. J. Abrams and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst, is the chronicle of two readers finding each other in the margins of a book and enmeshing themselves in a deadly struggle between forces they don’t understand, and it is also Abrams and Dorst’s love letter to the written word.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Bad Robot's "Stranger" Teaser

JJ Abram's Bad Robot production company has posted a teaser video simply titled "Stranger". What it means, what it is promoting, and all those other questions remain unknown. I suspect this for an idea that really only exists on paper and Bad Robot is hoping to use it to get studio interest to pay for whatever idea the video is for. So watch it and then ignore it until something more substantial is released about it.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Abrams Sells New Pilot with Potter Director Attached

JJ Abrams continues his slow march to be executive producer of all television shows as he has signed up Alfonso Cuaron to direct the pilot of his next potential NBC series. Cuaron is the director of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and received Oscar nominations for writing Children of Men and Y Tu Mama Tambien. The untitled series is described as being "about a girl in possession of a great gift/powers — which will come into their own in seven years — and the man who is sprung from prison to protect her from those trying to hunt her down." The pilot episode will be used to show off a show's potential to entice a network to pay for an entire season of a show for the 2013-2014 season.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Abrams Signs Up New Fox Drama

JJ Abrams' remains busy as he has has found a replacement show for Fringe with Fox. Abrams and his Fringe showrunner J.H. Wyman have signed a pilot agreement with the network for "an action-packed buddy cop show, set in the near future, when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids." Abrams will exec produce with Wyman set to run this new show if it gets an order.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

JJ Abrams to Produce Spec Script

The Star Trek sequel may be in post-production but that isn't stopping JJ Abrams from signing on to produce another movie. According to Variety the untitled project "described as a contained thriller with sci-fi elements, though story details remain under wraps." The script is from Josh Campbell (remake of The Killer) and Matt Stuecken (associate producer on GI Joe Retaliation). The movie will be made through Abram's Bad Robot production company for Paramount. Abrams will likely just have executive producer credit but if the itch strikes he could direct it as likely will wrap up most of his post-production work on Star Trek 12 by the end of the summer or early Fall. (via TrekMovie)

Monday, October 3, 2011

JJ Abrams Prepping Adventure Movie

Deadline is reporting that JJ Abrams has sold a mystery adventure project to Paramount. The untitled project is written by Bill Ray (A Captain's Duty, Pan). No details on release date, cast or anything else. All this means is Paramout is interested in the movie but probably months away before the greenlight that provides the funding to move to the pre-production phase.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Fringe Duo Partners with Abrams

It seems that JJ Abrams just cannot find too many shows and movies to produce as Deadline reports he might have found another project. Fringe co-producers Monica Breen and Alison Schapker have re-upped with Abrams' Bad Robot to develop another TV series and write a movie.
I've learned they've been hired to do a rewrite on one of J.J.'s top-secret projects at Paramount. With a working title of Zanbato, the script involves Japanese history and robotics: "swashbuckling robots with swords" is how one insider describes it to me. (That's the project which Francis Lawrence is no longer attached to direct.) The female writing team will continue to develop original material with J.J. and Bad Robot. Their "heightened reality" crime drama Pulp was written under their deal last year, and now it may turn into a graphic novel or potential comic book series for Warner's DC Comics.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Abrams Producing Polar Bear

JJ Abrams has signed on to produce Infinitely Polar Bear. Despite the title, the story is really about "a bipolar man who attempts to hold onto his stability in order to take care of his two daughters while their mother does her best to start a career." The movie will be written and directed by Maya Forbes (The Rocker) with Mark Ruffalo up for the lead.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Abrams' Odd Jobs Goes to NBC

In the space of a week, JJ Abrams has managed to sell three television show pitches to three networks. The latest is a series preliminarily called Odd Jobs with Lost actors Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn as ex-black-ops agents. THR announced that NBC has picked up the show which will likely run next season. The other two programs, Alcatraz and Person of Interest landed at Fox and CBS.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Abrams' Adds Third TV Show for Next Season

JJ Abrams seems to love exec producing shows as he has added a third show to his intended 2011-2012 TV season schedule. NYMag.com is reporting the currently title project, Odd Jobs, would team Lost castmates Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson together as a pair of black ops agents. EW added that already three networks have expressed interest in the show. If purchased (which is a near guarantee thanks to the power of Abrams), the show would be written by Josh Appelbaum and Andre Nemec (Alias). The other two shows, Alcatraz and Person of Interest, have recently found homes on Fox and CBS. It is probably a good thing that most of the time "Executive Producers" are the big picture guys that dip their toe in to check the temperature and then dive back out as the main producers run day to day operations. Otherwise Abrams wouldn't have time to even eat much less work on his various movie projects that are also in the works.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Abrams' Person of Interest Heads to CBS

Yesterday, JJ Abrams found a home for his show Alcatraz and now today he found a home with CBS for his other called Person of Interest. The show is an hour long drama that was co-created by writer Jonah Nolan (The Dark Knight, The Prestige). Following the usual television process, a pilot will be commissioned and if good enough the show will be picked up for probably the 2010-2011 television season.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

JJ Abrams Adds Two Projects to Plate

It seems JJ Abrams doesn't have enough to do with directing Super 8, executive producing Fringe, Mission Impossible 4, Undercovers, Star Trek 12 and Boilerplate. He now seems to have signed to create two new television shows.

Not details are yet available but one of them is a crime-thriller TV series that would be collaboration between Jonah Nolan, brother of The Dark Knight and Inception director Christopher Nolan. The other project is collaboration with Lost executive producer Elizabeth Sarnoff for a show called "Alcatraz" about the San Francisco prison.

Personally all I want to know is if he will be directing Star Trek 12 or not. That decision probably will not be made until next year.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Abrams Game for 7 Minutes in Heaven

JJ Abrams has to be one of the busiest men in Hollywood right now with prepping to write and direct Super 8, offering advice on Star Trek 2, and adding yet another project to his producer’s plate. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Abram's Bad Robot is "developing a thriller based on the teenage make out game of snogging in the closet" called 7 Minutes in Heaven. The project is from Jack Bender, who directed for Lost including its last episode. Right now the project has no writer, schedule or budget so could be a little while before it moves forward. I believe that Abrams will be executive producer on the project so his other endeavors should really interfere with production once a script is settled on.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Abrams Producing Boilerplate

Boilerplate creators at Wondercon '10It seems that JJ Abrams doesn't have enough on his plate as he has decided to produce another movie according to the Hollywood Reporter. The movie will be done under his Bad Robot banner. Right now it’s all in the preliminary stages with Paramount buying the rights to the novel "Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel" by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett and turning over to Abrams to turn into a movie.

THR describes Boilerplate as "the story of the world’s first robot, who, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fought alongside Teddy Roosevelt and Lawrence of Arabia, journeyed to the South Pole and was involved in the silent movie business before disappearing on the battlefields of World War I." We will probably hear more about this next year as the movie is likely at least one to two years away from getting before the cameras, if it ever does. Until an official greelight, no movie and right now all this idea has is a strong advocate to get it made but no guarantees.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Abrams in Running to Direct Wicked Movie?

Deadline is reporting that four big name Hollywood directors are vying for the chance to direct the movie version of Wicked. The list is of rumored directors is JJ Abrams, James Mangold (Knight and Day), Ryan Murphy (Glee), and Rob Marshall (Nine). Wicked is a Broadway musical based on the fictional story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Considering that Abrams is expected to start filming Super 8 this fall and Star Trek next summer, I don't see how he can even be on the short list unless Universal is willing to wait until 2012 to start production. So take at least the Abrams part of the rumor with a grain of salt.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Abrams Directing a Spielberg Project?

Photo: Michael Kovac/WireImageNew York Magazine's Vulture blog suggests that J.J. Abrams next directing project will be collaboration with Steven Spielberg, who will likely executive produce the film. The untitled film, written by Abrams, is "“a tip of the hat to [Spielberg’s] movies of the 70’s and early 80’s.” This potential directing effort should not be confused with Mission: Impossible IV, Morning Glory, Fringe and Undercovers which are projects he produces but isn't directing.
Our sources tell us that Abrams is in discussions with Spielberg, and insist the DreamWorks co-founder will be involved in some capacity, whether as an executive producer or at least as an adviser, since “J.J. wants to make sure Steven is properly paid homage to. This is really an interpretation of some of Spielberg’s earlier films, but done in a personal way.”

“It’s kind of the anti-Avatar,” explained one source, “Not that [J.J.] doesn’t love that movie or special effects movies - he has a real facility for effects. But he really wants to make this, and the way to do that is to be fiscally responsible.”
Abrams probably will never confirm this story considering his love of secrets but TrekMovie points out it is plausible. Months ago Abrams had indicated that part of the reason he decided to produce M:I4 instead of direct was because he was working a script that he was interested in directing. In additional, a "fiscally responsible" project is unlikely to have a long post-production time which will give him plenty of time to direct the film, put it the can and begin pre-production for Star Trek 2. With all the balls in the air Abrams has, there is no telling how this could shake out until either a press release confirms it or he is behind the cameras giving orders.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Abrams Wants "Great World"

According to The Hollywood Reporter, JJ Abrams is attempting to secure the rights to "Let the Great World Spin" for his production company Bad Robot. Great World is National Book Award winning novel by Colum McCann about Philippe Petit and his tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers in August 1974.
The book's characters include a young Irish monk living among prostitutes in the Bronx; a group of mothers mourning their sons, killed in Vietnam, in a Park Avenue apartment; and a 38-year-old grandmother walking the streets with her teenage daughter. With comparisons to Don DeLillo's work, McCann's novel serves as an allegory of 9/11 and its aftermath.

"Spin" joins a handful of other projects Abrams has in the works as a producer that spring from literary source material and do not feed his typical genre obsessions. Also at Bad Robot and Paramount are an untitled diamond-heist project derived from a Joshua Davis article in Wired and "Mystery on Fifth Avenue," from a New York Times article about a family's Manhattan apartment that was designed as a giant puzzle.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Samurai Jack: The Movie Produced by Abrams?

According to a report from Frederator Films blog, JJ Abrams has agreed to co-produce Samurai Jack: The Movie. Samurai Jack is an Emmy award winning cartoon series (intro below) that appeared on Cartoon Network from 2001 to 2004 (wiki entry).

The post is from back in September but just recently noticed. Apparently the goal is to create a feature film length animated movie, a first for Abrams if this project moves ahead. Click the link above for the history of the project but as of right now the movie is in the hopeful phase as nothing definitive is planned but the clout of Abram's Bad Robot Productions increases the probabilities of the film being made. Likely the goal at this point is getting a studio to foot the bill for a draft of a script.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Abrams Producing Micronauts?

In a Wall Street Journal article covering the sudden explosive interest that Hollywood has developed in toy products since the massive success of Transformers, it was revealed that "J.J. Abrams, who created the TV show "Lost" and directed this summer's "Star Trek" film, is in discussions to produce a movie about Japanese toy line Micronauts, which Hasbro just acquired."

Micronauts is a toy line from the 70s that lasted about four years in the United States before being cancelled. The toys were at first produced by Mego and then again in 2002 by Palisades Toys. There was also multiple comic book lines produced to go with the toys, first with Marvel and then again in 2002 with Image before moving to Devil's due before publishing on the franchise ended again. The basic idea is a group of adventures living in the Microverse (as in microscopic) fight to end the tyranny of Bara Karza. It was essentially Star Wars were everything occurred at the microscopic scale rather than in space. Click here to read up on the wiki entry for the potential future movie franchise.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Abrams Up For Superman

In a new interview with MTV, JJ Abrams has indicated he is up for bringing Superman to the big screen once again. Around 2002 the director, hot due to Alias, had developed a treatment that was wildly panned by the internet as it throughout most of the conventions of Superman, essentially keeping the characters names but not a whole lot else. However, with the success of Mission Impossible, Star Trek and others, the director and producer has a proven track record of re-imagining properties without crapping on what came before.
"No one has talked to me about it," Abrams told MTV News. "Obviously I’m sure Warner Brothers has a plan for what they want to do."

"Writing that script was a long process," he explained. "It was a very passionate character for me. As a kid growing up it meant a lot to me. It would be wonderful and fun to see that brought back. I don’t know what Warners is thinking or what their plan is. It would be a blast."

That version of the movie—the one that was reviewed and vilified—was actually not the latest draft we had at the time and we worked on it well after that. I do think there’s a version of that movie that could be really fun to see," said Abrams. "You never really know. Everything happens for a reason."
I am all for Abrams taking a crack at Superman, as long as someone at DC (or even Kevin Smith) gives him a few stories to read to bring him up to speed on the core characteristics of the character and his universe. I personally recommend Kingdom Come, Superman for All Season, Action Comics #775, Superman: Brainiac TPB, or just a really long conversation with Geoff Johns who has nailed the character better than anyone else in a very long time.