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EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jackson, who reportedly earned $275 million posthumously over the past year for his estate, isn't slowing down anytime soon. I'm told that GK Films is in active negotiations to acquire a package for a film that is being fashioned around his groundbreaking hit song Thriller. The film, which has been quietly shopped over the past several weeks by Real Effects Entertainment, has Kenny Ortega attached to direct, and The Hangover scribe Jeremy Garelick to write the screenplay. While GK is in the driver's seat, I'm told that Fox 2000, Mandate/Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment are all in the mix on what will shape up as a pricey rights deal, but which will turn out to be a film budgeted at under $50 million. Plot is being kept under wraps but I understand it has to do with the song's folklore, involving Vincent Price and the town he grew up in. All of this deal making is subject to a deal being completed with Jackson's estate, but that has been in the works for some time and is expected to be sealed. Thriller songwriter Rod Temperton is also in the mix. On top of the Thriller deal, I've heard that Cirque du Soleil is in talks to do two live shows based on Jackson's music, and that Montecito partners Ivan Reitman and Tom Pollock are looking to do a feature about Jackson's younger years.
There is symmetry to GK in that the deal is being spearheaded by GK Films president Peter Schlessel. While at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Schlessel made the deal for This Is It!, the feature film that Ortega directed which used rehearsal footage from what was expected to be Jackson's farewell tour. That film was profitable for SPE, and it is likely that GK Films will distribute Thriller through its SPE output deal. UTA reps Garelick and Reel Effects, while Paradigm reps Ortega.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/michael-jackson-song-thriller-in-center-of-pic-auction/
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Hollywood studios are set to fight it out for the chance to produce a new film based on Michael Jackson's groundbreaking Thriller video and song. Kenny Ortega, the High School Musical director who oversaw plans for Jackson's ill-fated comeback tour and the film that chronicled rehearsals for it, This Is It, is in line to take charge of the cameras.
Thriller's famous video, in which Jackson leads a horde of zombies in a frenetic, deathly dance, was famously shot by John Landis, who had perfected the special effects work on his Oscar-winning 1982 horror An American Werewolf in London a year earlier. Jackson had become enraptured by the film and engaged Landis to shoot a 14-minute promo, which is often considered the greatest pop music video of all time. It is also the best-selling example of the form, according to the Guinness World Records, having shifted more than 9m units.
According to Deadline, the film version might focus on the character played in the original video by horror legend Vincent Price, who provided the narration and a rap. The Hangover's Jeremy Garelick is writing the screenplay; Thriller songwriter Rod Temperton is also involved. Studios including Summit, makers of the Twilight series, Lionsgate and Twentieth Century Fox are reportedly interested in buying the rights package for the film.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/27/thriller-michael-jackson-film
There is symmetry to GK in that the deal is being spearheaded by GK Films president Peter Schlessel. While at Sony Pictures Entertainment, Schlessel made the deal for This Is It!, the feature film that Ortega directed which used rehearsal footage from what was expected to be Jackson's farewell tour. That film was profitable for SPE, and it is likely that GK Films will distribute Thriller through its SPE output deal. UTA reps Garelick and Reel Effects, while Paradigm reps Ortega.
http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/michael-jackson-song-thriller-in-center-of-pic-auction/
************
Hollywood studios are set to fight it out for the chance to produce a new film based on Michael Jackson's groundbreaking Thriller video and song. Kenny Ortega, the High School Musical director who oversaw plans for Jackson's ill-fated comeback tour and the film that chronicled rehearsals for it, This Is It, is in line to take charge of the cameras.
Thriller's famous video, in which Jackson leads a horde of zombies in a frenetic, deathly dance, was famously shot by John Landis, who had perfected the special effects work on his Oscar-winning 1982 horror An American Werewolf in London a year earlier. Jackson had become enraptured by the film and engaged Landis to shoot a 14-minute promo, which is often considered the greatest pop music video of all time. It is also the best-selling example of the form, according to the Guinness World Records, having shifted more than 9m units.
According to Deadline, the film version might focus on the character played in the original video by horror legend Vincent Price, who provided the narration and a rap. The Hangover's Jeremy Garelick is writing the screenplay; Thriller songwriter Rod Temperton is also involved. Studios including Summit, makers of the Twilight series, Lionsgate and Twentieth Century Fox are reportedly interested in buying the rights package for the film.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/27/thriller-michael-jackson-film
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