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Austin Butler has been attached to star in an adaptation of Don Winslow’s City on Fire for the last two years, but the project is finally moving forward as it now has a director. Deadline reports that Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic) has been tapped to direct City on Fire for Sony’s 3000 Pictures.

The novel is the first installment of a trilogy that “focuses on two criminal empires — one Irish, the other Italian — that control all of New England, until a modern-day Helen of Troy tears them apart and starts a brutal war. The main character, Danny Ryan, is forced to grow from a street soldier into a ruthlessly efficient leader to protect his friends, his family and the home he loves. Fighting the Mafia, the local cops, the feds – everyone – Danny builds a dynasty or will die trying.” Should the film be successful, I’d imagine that the other two novels,...

Exclusive: Sony’s 3000 Pictures adaptation of Don Winslow’s best-selling crime novel City On Fire is gaining some steam as sources tell Deadline Captain Fantastic director Matt Ross is coming on to helm the pic starring Austin Butler. Butler will also produce along with David Heyman of Heyday Films and Shane Salerno and The Story Factory. Challengers writer Justin Kuritzkes adapted the script.

The trilogy focuses on two criminal empires — one Irish, the other Italian — that control all of New England, until a modern-day Helen of Troy tears them apart and starts a brutal war. The main character, Danny Ryan, is forced to grow from a street soldier into a ruthlessly efficient leader to protect his friends, his family and the home he loves. Fighting the Mafia, the local cops, the feds – everyone – Danny is out to build a dynasty or will die trying.

A modern retelling of the Iliad,...

Exclusive: Martin Sheen has been tapped by James Cameron to narrate the audio book of Ghosts of Hiroshima, the Charles Pellegrino book set for publication by Blackstone on August 5. Cameron plans to use the book as the basis for a film of the same name, which the filmmaker will direct as his first non-Avatar film since 1997’s Titanic.

The project has been a labor of love for Cameron for fifteen years, and the three time Emmy winner Sheen was part of that dream. “Martin Sheen is my dream come true to read this book for audio,” Cameron told Deadline. “His voice-over narration for Apocalypse Now still haunts me, and for a subject this dark, he will give it the gravitas and humanity that it needs.”

Cameron purchased the rights to Pellegrino‘s forthcoming book and will shoot the film as soon as Avatar production permits. Cameron plans an “uncompromising theatrical film.

Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry are ready to shed new light on Los Angeles with Crime 101.

Director Bart Layton joined his stars on stage at CinemaCon to show a sneak peek of the Amazon MGM Studios film hitting theaters later this year. Rounding out the packed cast are Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins, Tate Donovan, Devon Bostick, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Nick Nolte.

“In the driver’s seat of this exciting ride is none other than our fearless director, Bart Layton,” Berry told the crowd about the movie that features Ruffalo as a detective attempting to track down those responsible for a string of jewelry heists.

The filmmaker pointed out that the L.A.-based 101 Freeway plays a key role in the plot and shared that he hoped “to capture L.A. in a way you might not have seen on film before.”

For his part,...

Avatar: Fire and Ash is the latest chapter in the emotional journey that Jake Sully and his family have navigated throughout the sci-fi film series. Sam Worthington's Sully has become a relatable character throughout the Avatar franchise, with director James Cameron claiming the main protagonist is partially based on his real-life personality.

Speaking with Empire, Cameron stated that the Avatar film series' main characters were created and written using inspiration from his life and the experiences of his co-writers, including Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Josh Friedman and Shane Salerno. According to the Oscar-winning filmmaker, Sully's personality mirrors his, particularly his parenting approach.

"These characters are amalgams of us, our childhoods, our role as parents, the mistakes we made, and probably to some extent continue to make as parents. A lot of self-reflection," he said. "I mean, Jake is a hard-ass motherf**ker. He's very hard on his kids. Well,...

Avatar director James Cameron reveals that Jake Sully is partially based on himself. Released in 2009, the sci-fi fantasy film remains not just Cameron's most successful film ever, but the highest-grossing movie of all time. Avatar stars Sam Worthington in the lead role of Jake, a paraplegic marine dispatched on a mission to colonize the alien moon of Pandora who becomes torn between following orders and defending the people and culture he comes to love. Worthington returns as Jake to lead the cast of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), Cameron's hit sequel.

During a recent interview with Empire magazine, Cameron recalls the writing process for the Avatar sequels. The director reveals that the franchise's characters were created and written by drawing from his own life, as well as the lives of his co-writers, Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, Josh Friedman, and Shane Salerno. Cameron mentions Jake, specifically, as a character that has...

Released in 2009, director James Cameron’s film Avatar became the first movie to officially gross more than $2 billion. Then it took him thirteen years to get a sequel into theatres, so it wasn’t clear if the follow-up was going to be able to replicate that success. But then, sure enough, Avatar: The Way of Water also grossed more than $2 billion, paving the way for not only Avatar 3, or Avatar: Fire and Ash, (which is scheduled to reach theatres on December 19, 2025) but also Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 – which will be released on December 21, 2029 and December 19, 2031, respectively. The first Avatar was quite long, with a running time of 2 hours and 42 minutes, but Avatar: The Way of Water surpassed it, going on for 3 hours and 12 minutes. Now, Cameron has confirmed that Avatar: Fire and Ash will be even longer.

Speaking with Empire, Cameron said, “In a nutshell, we had too many...

In case you're already finding your bladder being tested by long movies, you might want to skip the next big blockbuster by Hollywood auteur James Cameron. The director of films like The Terminator, Titanic and, most recently, the Avatar movies, said that the upcoming sequels are going to be longer than the previous movies in the franchise. But rest assured that it's all for a good reason: The writers just had too many good ideas to include in a regular length movie.

The first movie, 2009's Avatar, had a running time of 162 minutes, while the sequel, 2022's Avatar: The Way of Water, went for a whopping 192 minutes. Recently, Cameron said that the third movie, Avatar: Fire and Ash, will have a running time similar to the second. Nevertheless, the director spoke to Empire, and he teased that the upcoming movie would actually be a bit longer than part 2:

"In a nutshell,...

The journey is long, and so is the runtime.

James Cameron shared on Friday that the upcoming “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” set to release Dec. 19, 2025, will be even longer than its predecessor 2022’s “The Way Of Water.”

The sequel to Cameron’s first “Avatar” film clocked in at 187 minutes. Comparatively the first film, which hit theaters back in 2009, was 145 minutes. The runtime was hardly Cameron’s concern though, the director explained that originally “Fire and Ash” was not even supposed to happen. In Empire’s latest Path To Pandora dispatch, the acclaimed director and some of the writers talked about the decision to split the second and third installments.

“In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of movie 2,” Cameron said of his decision to bisect the films. “The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we were not drilling down enough on character. So I said,...

Avatar: Fire And Ash almost didn’t exist at all. James Cameron’s original plan was to follow up his 2009 mega-smash Avatar with three sequels, but when he and his writers’ room got into developing the story, there proved just too much juicy material. Hence, as Cameron tells Empire in our latest Path To Pandora dispatch, some of the story planned for Avatar: The Way Of Water got developed as a whole other film.

“In a nutshell, we had too many great ideas packed into act one of movie 2,” Cameron says, unpacking the process of the Avatar writers’ room. “The [film] was moving like a bullet train, and we weren’t drilling down enough on character. So I said, ‘Guys, we’ve got to split it.’” While The Way Of Water was epic in its own right, “movie 3 will actually be a little bit longer than movie 2”, he teases.

For both...

With 2025 marking 23 years since Hollywood legend Halle Berry received her historic Best Actress Oscar, she admits she's "tired" of being the only Black Woman to receive the accolade. While she's grateful to have "opened that door," the acclaimed actor desperately wants another Black female to win the Academy Awards' top prize.

Speaking on Trevor Noah's What Now? podcast (via People), Berry delved into her Oscar win for her performance in Monster's Ball and what her victory means decades later. Though Berry remains grateful to have made history at the Academy Awards, she hopes Wicked's Cynthia Erivo ends the long wait for a Black Best Actress winner as she doesn't want to be "occupying that space alone" anymore. "I hope this year someone stands next to me,” Berry said. “This year, I hope it happens because I'm tired of occupying that space alone.”

Related'She's Always On Our Mind': John Wick...

Guardians of the Galaxy and Dune star Dave Bautista is still fighting to play the role of Marcus Fenix in the long-awaited adaptation of the video game Gears of War. In fact, so determined is the action star to lead the project (which is currently in development at Netflix) that he has asked fans to start an online campaign.

And if that wasn't enough to convince you of his passion for the part, the actor has also revealed to Comicbook.com that he has started bugging Netflix himself:

“Start an online thing about freaking Gears of War. Come on, Netflix. Come on already. It’s not like I’m not badgering them. Come on, Netflix. Get it together.”

Created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios, Gears of War is a hugely successful third-person shooter that focuses on the conflict between...

Longtime fans of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings can attest that while the trilogy is aging, the films remain nearly perfect, especially the battles. The fights between good and evil remain epic from the quintessential Battle for Minas Tirith to the concluding battle at The Black Gate. Regardless of Peter Jackson's ability to direct and organize such massive and legendary battles, other films are notable specifically for their battle scenes.

With no disregard for the Fellowship's dire life-and-death moments, some feature films have bested The Lord of the Rings. There's no denying that the movie trilogy inspired many franchises to craft bolder and wilder battle scenes — some of them even surpass the impact of The Lord of the Rings, including films that predate the trilogy. Such movies range from a clash of swords in Gladiator to sci-fi epics like Avatar, while other movies provide eclectic war scenes like Saving Private Ryan.

It's been a long road, getting from there to here. 

Jon Turteltaub's 2018 shark thriller "The Meg" was based on Steve Alten's novel "Meg" that was published way back in 1997. The book was optioned for a film adaptation by Hollywood Pictures, a Disney subsidiary, the year prior, and several screenplay drafts were immediately written. Jeffrey Boam was said to have written an adaptation of "Meg," but Disney didn't like it. Indeed, none of those screenplays were deemed good enough to develop into an actual feature, and three years passed without any movement on the project. In 1999, the rights reverted to Alten. 

Then, in 2005, the book was optioned again, this time by New Line Cinema. The new version of "Meg" was going to be an impressive affair, with Shane Salerno as its screenwriter, and Jan de Bont as director. A 2008 report in the Los Angeles Times even noted that "Meg...

Josh Brolin reflected on a previous offer to appear in the Avatar sequel. He said he declined the project but it was nothing personal; James Cameron's reaction was uncalled for.

Josh Brolin recalled his brief spat with James Cameron in an interview for In Depth With Graham Basinger. Cameron wanted Brolin in Avatar: The Way of Water but the actor refused the offer. "I heard he was angry," the Dune actor said. "I understand it, because when you have something in your mind and you have a status and a power you're used to people feeling really grateful that you are offering it to them. I don't know if that's the case with him, because I don't know him well enough. But it was based on the [project]. It wasn't based on him."

Related Avatar Star Plans to Return For the Sequels, Says 'It's Bigger Than You Can Imagine'

Sam Worthington...

Action movies are often hit or miss in terms of box office returns. Sometimes something like John Wick will make waves within the pop-cultural stratosphere, and other times it can be found at the bottom of a DVD bin at a local store.

However, it can't be understated how massive of an impact the action genre has made on Hollywood. Not only are many of them critical successes, but also box office smashes that have broken records time and time again. With a more profitable movie-making landscape than ever, action films have never had more opportunity to make bank in theaters. After adjusting for inflation, these action movies grossed the highest numbers at the domestic box office from 1995 onwards, according to The Numbers.

James Cameron Takes Audiences Back to the World of Pandora Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Box Office Returns for Avatar: The Way of Water

Domestic Box Office...

Several stunning new concept art images tease the epic visuals to come in director James Camerons Avatar: Fire and Ash. The sequel will introduce several new Navi tribes, including an air tribe and a villainous fire tribe, with the new look at the highly anticipated sequel revealing some of what we can expect from Avatar 3 when it lands in theaters on December 19, 2025. You can check out the new images, which were released during this weekends D23 Brazil, below.

The concept art was done by Dylan Cole, Zachary Berger, and Steve Messing, and showcases the flying vehicles that will be used by the air tribe, a vibrant water scene, and our first look at where the volcano-dwelling "Ash People" clan live. This image also seemingly reveals that a character (possibly Stephen Langs Colonel Miles Quaritch) will find themselves being captured by the tribe, who have been confirmed as the main villains of the sequel.

Amazon Studios’ feature film “Crime 101” is rounding out its cast.

Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte, Tate Donovan, Babak Tafti, Payman Maadi, Deborah Hedwall, Devon Bostick, Paul Adelstein, Drew Powell and Matthew Del Negro have boarded the upcoming crime thriller, which will be released in theaters.

They join previously announced cast members Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Monica Barbaro, Corey Hawkins and Halle Berry. Bart Layton wrote the script, which is based on a novella by Don Winslow, and will direct.

Per the logline, Winslow’s original story follows a series of high level jewelry thefts up and down the Pacific Coast Highway that have gone unsolved for years, mostly because the perpetrator has lived by a strict code he calls ‘Crime 101.’ Police attribute the thefts to the Colombian cartels, but Detective Lou Lubesnick’s gut says it’s the work of just one man. Now the lone-wolf jewel...

Halle Berry has entered into final negotiations on Amazon MGM Studio’s adaptation of ‘Crime 101,’ starring alongside Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Barry Keoghan.

Based on author Don Winslow’s novella of the same name, the novella tells the story of a string of high-level jewel heists up and down the Pacific Coast Highway that has gone unsolved for years, mostly because the perpetrator has lived by a strict code he calls “Crime 101”. Police attribute the thefts to the Colombian cartels. But Detective Lou Lubesnick’s gut says it’s the work of just one man.

Also in news – Millie Bobby Brown features in first look images from ‘The Electric State’

Bart Layton, who also wrote the script with contributions from Peter Straughan, is set to direct the movie. Hemsworth is in talks to star and produce alongside partner Ben Grayson.

The project is produced by Working Title...

Halle Berry is final negations to join Amazon MGM Studios upcoming thriller “Crime 101,” adding some additional star power to a feature that already boasts a cast of Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Barry Keoghan.

The film — which Variety understands is due to start shooting in two weeks — is based on the short story by Don Winslow, with Bart Layton directing. Layton — who also exec produced “The Tinder Swindler” alongside numerous other unscripted series — wrote the script.

Winslow’s original story follows a series of high level jewellery thefts up and down the Pacific Coast Highway that have gone unsolved for years, mostly because the perpetrator has lived by a strict code he calls “Crime 101.” Police attribute the thefts to the Colombian cartels. But Detective Lou Lubesnick’s gut says it’s the work of just one man. Now the lone-wolf jewel thief is looking for that fabled final...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Halle Berry is in negotiations to join the cast of Amazon MGM Studios’ adaptation of Don Winslow’s short story Crime 101, Bart Layton’s anticipated follow-up to American Animals that will star Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Barry Keoghan. The pic will be released in theaters next year.

Plot details are under wraps, but the original short story by Winslow has shades of Heat as it follows high-level jewel thefts taking place up and down the Pacific Coast that police have linked to Colombian cartels. Detective Lou Lubesnick has other ideas and he zeroes in on one perp, a thief looking for a final score. The film will shoot this month.

Layton is directing and wrote the script with contributions from Peter Straughan. Producers include Story Factory’s Shane Salerno, Working Title’s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, Raw’s Layton and Dimitri Doganis and Derrin Schlesinger.

Academy Award-winning director James Cameron is known for helming some of the most successful movies in history. With films like Titanic and Avatar under his belt, which are two of the highest-grossing movies of all time, Cameron has cemented himself as one of Hollywoods most prolific filmmakers.

Recently, Cameron declared that he would be taking on a new cinematic challenge outside the world of Pandora. He's secured the rights to Charles Pellegrinos forthcoming book, Ghosts of Hiroshima, and has expressed his intentions of making a movie based on Ghosts of Hiroshima and Pellegrinos 2015 book, Last Train From Hiroshima. This would mark Camerons first non-Avatar project since 1997.

Ghosts of Hiroshima will be published in August 2025, and Cameron revealed to Deadline that he will be working on the movie adaptation, titled Last Train From Hiroshima, as soon as his schedule with the Avatar franchise allows. The film is set to explore the harrowing experiences of Tsutomu Yamaguchi,...

James Cameron is planning for life after Avatar. The filmmaker has purchased the rights to the forthcoming book Ghosts Of Hiroshima, and intends to direct a feature adaptation of the atomic bomb story, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Author Charles Pellegrino’s Ghosts Of Hiroshima arrives from Blackstone Publishing in August 2025 and follows his 2015 book Last Train From Hiroshima, which will also serve as the basis of the film.

Cameron’s film would in part follow the true story of then-29 year old engineer Tsutomu Yamaguchi, recognized as the only person who survived both atomic bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. He was on business in Hiroshima on Aug. 6, when the American military bombed the city, and returned by train to Nagasaki the next day, only to survive its bombing on Aug. 9. It is estimated that between 110,000 and 210,000 people died as a result of the bombings.

Cameron is...

Director James Cameron has purchased the rights to Charles Pellegrino‘s upcoming book “Ghosts of Hiroshima,” which will be published by Blackstone Publishing in August 2025 (the 80th anniversary of the bomb’s dropping in 1945).

Cameron will combine and adapt “Ghosts” and Pellegrino’s 2015 book “Last Train From Hiroshima” into a single film, which he will shoot when “Avatar” production allows. It will be titled “Last Train from Hiroshima.”

The film will tell the true story of a Japanese man during World War II who survived two atomic bombings: after living through the explosion in Hiroshima, he took a train to Nagasaki, enduring another blast there. Pellegrino was a science consultant to Cameron on both “Avatar” and “Titanic,” and Cameron has been interested in bringing this story to the big screen for over 20 years.

The project would mark Cameron’s first non-“Avatar” franchise project as a narrative feature director since 1997, when he released “Titanic.

Avatar film series director James Cameron is set to helm his first movie outside the sci-fi franchise in nearly 30 years. The Oscar-winning filmmaker agrees to adapt two books chronicling a survival story of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.

Per Deadline, Cameron will adapt two Charles Pellegrino books for the planned film, Last Train From Hiroshima. One book is the titular 2015 book by Pelligrino. The other is the author's upcoming novel, Ghosts of Hiroshima, which Cameron recently purchased the rights to and is set to be published by Blackstone Publishing in August 2025. According to Cameron, the nonfiction books will be adapted into an "uncompromising" movie, with the project coveted by the Canadian helmer for a long time.

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Iconic director James Cameron discusses his involvement level with Alien: Romulus and the chances of his return to the Alien franchise.

Exclusive: Deadline can reveal that Oscar-winning filmmaker James Cameron has purchased the rights to Charles Pellegrino’s forthcoming book Ghosts of Hiroshima.

Cameron has committed to use that, and the 2015 Pellegrino book Last Train From Hiroshima, as the basis for a film he will shoot as soon as Avatar production permits. Cameron shared with Deadline that the two nonfiction books will be adapted into one “uncompromising theatrical film.” It will mark Cameron’s first non-Avatar film since 1997’s Oscar-winning Titanic.

The film will be called Last Train From Hiroshima. Pellegrino’s Ghosts of Hiroshima will be published by Blackstone Publishing in August 2025. That marks the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the bomb in 1945.

The film focuses in part on the true story of a Japanese man during World War II who survived the atomic blast at Hiroshima, got on a train to Nagasaki, and then survived the nuclear explosion in that city.

Avatar fans can breathe a sigh of relief, because Sigourney Weaver is locked in for the long haul. The actress who first portrayed Dr. Grace Augustine in the original sci-fi masterpiece and later Kiri in Avatar: The Way of Water has officially confirmed her involvement well beyond 2025's Avatar: Fire and Ash. When asked if shed be in both Avatar 4 and Avatar 5, Weaver responded by saying (per Deadline):

Yes, I think Im allowed to say that.

Presumably, Weaver will be portraying Kiri in all the sequels, but the Ghostbusters and Alien actress didnt come out and say that during the brand-new interview just that shes appearing in the future follow-ups. But the actress has finished working on Fire and Ash. Weaver continued by saying in the same sit-down:

I remember reading the script of the first Avatar and reading about these blue people with pointed ears and...

(Welcome to Tales from the Box Office, our column that examines box office miracles, disasters, and everything in between, as well as what we can learn from them.)

"I got pretty upset. I said, 'You do that you're going to kill the validity of the franchise in my mind,'" James Cameron told Ain't It Cool News in 2006, explaining his feelings regarding "Alien vs. Predator." The crossover project had been languishing in development hell for literally decades and Cameron, the director of 1986's "Aliens," clearly didn't believe that bringing these two beloved franchises together was the right move. Whether or not he was correct remains a source of debate. Either way, Fox eventually got things together, releasing "Alien vs. Predator" in theaters in 2004. In doing so, the studio set both properties on a rocky path that has arguably only recently stabilized in recent years.

At the time that he made those comments,...

A new episode of the Awfully Good Horror Movies video series has just been released, and with director Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus now in theatres, we have decided to celebrate by taking a look back at one of the least popular entries in the Alien franchise, the crossover sequel Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (watch it Here). You can hear all about it in the video embedded above!

Directed by the Brothers Strause from a screenplay by Shane Salerno, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem has the following synopsis: Residents of Gunnison, Colorado, are caught up in the crossfire when two deadly extraterrestrial species bring their longstanding conflict to Earth. On the one side, nearly indestructible Aliens; on the other, a lone Predator whose mission is to wipe out all traces of the Alien infestation from Earth, no matter who gets in the way.

The film stars Steven Pasquale, Reiko Aylesworth, John Ortiz,...

Following the title reveal of the third outing in the hugely successful Avatar franchise, director James Cameron has revealed some insight into what that subtitle, Fire and Ash, means for the movie. Discussing Avatar 3 with Rotten Tomatoes, Cameron has teased what the introduction of the new tribe, known as the Ash People, will mean for the world of Pandora and the continuing adventures of Jake Sully, Neytiri, and their family.

Well, if you think about 'what is fire?' Fire can represent hatred, violence, trauma, possible misuse of power. There's a lot of thematic stuff: What does ash represent? In my mind, in this film, it represents the aftermath of all of that energy, which is grief and having to live with what youve done.

The new title, and now Camerons insight, confirms that Avatar 3 will center on the Sully family and the conflict between the water tribe, the Metkayina,...

I came 7,000 miles from New Zealand for this, said James Cameron today, Aug. 9, 2024, as he surprised audiences at Disney's D23 event. He was joined by Avatar stars Zoe Saldaa and Sam Worthington at the Honda Center to show off concept art and announce the official title of the third Avatar film, which was revealed in a tiny snippet of footage. So, drumroll please what is the new title?

Avatar: Fire and Ash.

Huh. To be honest, it sounds like a Game of Thrones spinoff or one of George R.R. Martin's books, but hey, let's see how it goes. Cameron is certainly stoked for it. He said in front of the massive crowd: Holy crap, thats a lot of people. Is this epic or what? Most epic event for most epic fans." He described Avatar 3 vaguely:

High emotional stakes [...] New cultures and settings [...] Youll see more of Pandora...

Exclusive: The Michael Crichton and James Patterson novel Eruption has been bought at auction by Sony in what we hear is a seven-figure deal after several circled.

The feature take of Eruption already has Oscar-winning Free Solo directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi attached to direct, and we understand that there already have been conversations with Keanu Reeves to star, though no commitment.

Producers on the feature are Sherri Crichton for Crichton Sun, Patterson and Shane Salerno. Chin and Vasarhelyi also will produce. They made their narrative directing debut on Nyad, which got Oscar noms for Annette Bening and Jodie Foster.

Eruption, which Crichton spent 20 years writing before his death in 2008, follows a history-making volcano explosion that is about to wipe away the big island of Hawaii. However, a secret held for decades by the U.S. military is far more terrifying than any volcano.

The deal for Eruption...

Sherri Crichton was on a mission. She was poring over filing cabinets, old computers and scattered notes when she finally found it: a manuscript from her late husband, “Jurassic Park” and “Congo” writer Michael Crichton.

Each thread led her to the next: a draft called “Vulcan,” and other pieces called “The Black Zone” and “Black Agent.”

She knew about a long-gestating volcano project he’d been working on before his death – they’d been to Pompeii on their honeymoon, after all. “He would leave breadcrumbs. We’d be on a hike, and he would talk to me about the formation of lava,” Sherri says over lunch in early June. “His mind was this massive database that was just pumping out great story after great story after great story.”

There was just one problem: this story wasn’t finished. “When I started reading the book, I literally was covered in chills knowing that this is it.

Exclusive: The Little, Brown imprint Voracious has set a fall 2025 publication date for two books exploring the creative genius of Quentin Tarantino in the making of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Inglourious Basterds.

The books are written by Jay Glennie, and each will have a foreword written by Tarantino. Voracious VP/Publisher Michael Szczerban acquired world rights from Shane Salerno at The Story Factory.

The books will explore the making of these films in depth and detail, the result of hours of interviews that Glennie did with Tarantino about the creation, writing, casting, themes, visuals, production, soundtrack, post-production and global theatrical releases of both films. Aside from the interviews, Tarantino opened his personal archives to Glennie. Over 50 cast and crew also supplied anecdotes and photographs.

The books will include unseen personal photographs, behind-the-scenes stories, script drafts, notes, and changes, production and location materials, shooting schedules and more — painting...

Exclusive: Oscar-winning Free Solo directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi have come aboard as part of the package to direct Eruption, the novel by Michael Crichton and James Patterson that was just published atop every bestseller list.

The duo will be in the center of meetings to be held next week in which they’ll pitch the book, a large scale earth-threatening thriller about a volcano explosion in Hawaii. At the same time, Jim and Vasarhelyi might also be directing a documentary on the life of the late great Crichton.

Eruption is a big scale disaster novel tale that Crichton spent 20 years working on before his untimely death. The novel just went out to studios and other major buyers. It’s expected to be a big sale, continuing the legacy of the brilliant author behind everything from Jurassic Park, Westworld, Twister, ER and so many others.

The filmmakers made their narrative debut with Nyad,...

Last year, a bidding war was going down between Netflix and Amazon for a lucrative package deal. The two streaming giants were in a fight to acquire the film rights to the novella by Don Winslow called Crime 101. The package deal had included two attached stars — Chris Hemsworth and Pedro Pascal. Although, Pascal has now reportedly been replaced by Mark Ruffalo. It also has a director set to helm the project with Bart Layton, whose credits include the documentary The Imposter from 2012 and American Animals from 2018. Amazon had come out as the victor and according to Deadline, Saltburn and Masters of the Air star Barry Keoghan will now join the heist film.

Crime 101 is said to be a crime drama in the vein of Michael Mann’s Heat. The plot of the film has yet to be released; however, Deadline’s summary of the novel reads that “the...

Barry Keoghan is in negotiations to join Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo in Amazon MGM Studios adaptation of Don Winslow’s novella Crime 101. He will co-star with Chris Hemsworth, who also is in talks to star and produce alongside producing partner Ben Grayson. The film will be released in theaters next year.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, the original short story by Winslow has shades of Heat as it follows high-level jewel thefts that are taking place up and down the Pacific Coast, which police have linked to Colombian cartels. Detective Lou Lubesnick has other ideas, and he zeroes in on one perp, a thief looking for a final score.

Bart Layton is directing and wrote the script. Producers include Story Factory’s Shane Salerno, Working Title’s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, Raw’s Layton and Dimitri Doganis and Derrin Schlesinger. Raw’s Joely Fether will executive produce.

Exclusive: Media Res, the company behind Apple’s The Morning Show, has paid 7-figures to secure rights to Adrian McKinty’s global bestselling novel The Chain. The plan is to turn the thriller into a TV series.

Writer/producer Shane Salerno (Avatar: The Way of Water) will be executive producer along with Media Res’ Michael Ellenberg and Lindsey Springer. McKinty will be a Co-ep. Media Res and Salerno will next enlist a showrunner and actress to play the lead role and shop that package.

The Chain is a conspiracy thriller page-turner about an ordinary mother facing every parent’s worst nightmare: Her child is taken on her way to school. To get her back, the people behind the kidnapping plot – they call themselves The Chain – demand she do the unimaginable in exchange. A wicked, delirious puzzle piece that places audiences in the protagonist’s heart-pounding dilemma, The Chain is an...

Amazon MGM Studios' Crime 101 has just become a Thor: Ragnarok reunion project. Mark Ruffalo is reportedly in talks to join Chris Hemsworth in the upcoming adaptation of the 2021 Don Winslow novella.

According to Deadline, Ruffalo and Hemsworth will co-star in Crime 101, which will be released in theaters next year by Amazon MGM. The two Marvel Cinematic Universe veterans previously shared the screen in all four Avengers movies, as well as the 2017 film, Thor: Ragnarok. This means that Crime 101 would mark the first non-mcu project they have starred in together. While Hemsworth has been attached to Crime 101 since last year, Ruffalo is replacing Pedro Pascal, who had to depart the project due to scheduling conflicts. There is no word yet on when filming might begin.

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Fans are in for a special treat with an unexpected Avengers reunion, as two Og members are in talks to return to the screen together, and they are none other than, Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, but in a detective thriller this time. Despite their roles being entirely different, fans are excited to see them together once again, especially years after they witnessed the two together last time in Avengers: Endgame.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder | Marvel Studios

The gears are turning at Amazon MGM Studios as they are starting on an adaptation of Don Winslow’s Crime 101. The dynamic duo is set to team up for this thrilling venture. Fans are more than ready to see their beloved Avengers in this new avatar.

Mark Ruffalo and Chris Hemsworth in Talks for Reunion Film Five Years After Endgame

Crime 101, published in 2021, follows detective Lou Lubesnick as...

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Amazon MGM Studios is adapting Don Winslow’s novella Crime 101. Mark Ruffalo is reportedly in talks to play the lead role. He is set to co-star with Chris Hemsworth and negotiate to star and produce alongside Ben Grayson, his producing partner.

The film will be directed by Bart Layton, who collaborated with Peter Straughan to develop the screenplay. Layton is famously known for his work as a director and writer of the 2018 heist movie American Animals, which starred Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, and Ann Dowd. Pedro Pascal was supposed to star in the film alongside Hemsworth last year, but although he was on board, things did not move forward.

Working Title’s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, Raw’s Layton and Dimitri Doganis, and Derrin Schlesinger and Shane Salerno all serve as producers. Joely Fisher executive produces for Raw.

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Marvel star Mark Ruffalo has entered into negotiations to reunite with Chris Hemsworth on Amazon MGM Studio’s adaptation of ‘Crime 101.’

Based on author Don Winslow’s novella of the same name, the novella tells the story of a string of high-level jewel heists up and down the Pacific Coast Highway that has gone unsolved for years, mostly because the perpetrator has lived by a strict code he calls “Crime 101”. Police attribute the thefts to the Colombian cartels. But Detective Lou Lubesnick’s gut says it’s the work of just one man.

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Bart Layton, who also wrote the script with contributions from Peter Straughan, is set to direct the movie. Hemsworth is in talks to star and produce alongside partner Ben Grayson.

Producers include Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan for Working Title, and Layton and Dimitri Doganis for Raw,...

Mark Ruffalo is eyeing a big-screen reunion with Chris Hemsworth for the planned adaptation of a Don Winslow project.

Ruffalo is in talks to join Hemsworth in Amazon MGM Studios’ feature version of Crime 101, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Bart Layton — who wrote the script with contributions from Peter Straughan — is set to direct the movie that is based on author Winslow’s novella of the same name.

Hemsworth is in talks to star and produce alongside partner Ben Grayson for the film that is aiming for theatrical release next year.

Serving as producers are Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan for Working Title, and Layton and Dimitri Doganis for Raw, in addition to Derrin Schlesinger and Shane Salerno. Joely Fether is executive producing for Raw.

Published in 2021, the novella Crime 101 centered on detective Lou Lubesnick as he attempts to solve a string of jewel heists by tracking the perpetrator who...

Exclusive: Mark Ruffalo is in talks to star in Amazon MGM Studios adaptation of Don Winslow’s novella Crime 101. He will co-star with Chris Hemsworth, who also is in talks to star and produce alongside producing partner Ben Grayson. The film will be released in theaters next year.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, the original short story by Winslow has shades of Heat as it follows high-level jewel thefts that are taking place up and down the Pacific Coast, which police have linked to Colombian cartels. Detective Lou Lubesnick has other ideas, and he zeroes in on one perp, a thief looking for a final score.

Bart Layton is directing and wrote the script with contributions from Peter Straughan. Producers include Working Title’s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan, Raw’s Bart Layton and Dimitri Doganis, Derrin Schlesinger, and Shane Salerno. Raw’s Joely Fether will executive produce.

Hollywood’s next bidding war is about to erupt. “Eruption,” the much-discussed upcoming volcano disaster novel from the late Michael Crichton and James Patterson, is about to be brought to auction, attracting a large group of suitors keen on landing the sought-after film rights.

The auction, being conducted by Shane Salerno at the Story Factory and CAA, will begin within the next two weeks, and could kick off as early as next week, Variety can exclusively reveal.

The project has drawn interest from most major studios, streamers and networks, as well as high-profile directors who have shared that they’d leap at the chance to helm a Crichton project. Projects created by the author or adapted from his work include the “Jurassic Park” franchise, “Twister” and “Westworld.” Crichton was also the creator of “ER,” which Variety is told brought in over $3.2 billion for Warner Bros.

Several A-list actors have reached out regarding the novel,...

T.J. Newman was working as a flight attendant on the Virgin Airlines redeye flight from Los Angeles to New York when she had the idea for her debut novel Falling. That action thriller became a bestseller and was followed by Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421, which also became a bestseller. Film adaptations of both Falling and Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421 are already in the works – and now Deadline reports that the film rights to Newman’s third novel, Worst Case Scenario, are about to go up for auction.

Newman couldn’t get a lot of people interested in Falling at first. She was rejected by more than forty different agents. But then Shane Salerno and The Story Factory signed her, and her luck turned around in a major way. She landed a seven-figure deal with Avid Reader / Simon & Schuster, another seven figures for deals in thirty other countries…...

Exclusive: T. J. Newman, the flight attendant who hung up her wings to become the bestselling author of the movie-bound action thriller novels Falling and Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421, is catching her next flight with Little Brown.

In a publishing industry shocker, Newman has left Simon & Schuster and signed a new multimillion-dollar mega deal with Little Brown. Newman’s first novel for the publisher is called Worst Case Scenario, which debuts August 13. Screen rights will be auctioned before the novel gets a big push from Little Brown. Newman stays in her wheelhouse – it all starts with a commercial flight – but the book veers into tentpole territory that might draw comparisons to Independence Day or War of the Worlds-meets-Chernobyl. The action surrounds mankind preventing an extinction-level disaster.

When a pilot suffers a widow-maker heart attack at 35,000 feet, a commercial airliner crashes into a nuclear power plant. Only the efforts of...

Bruce Willis displayed generosity by setting up cash giveaways for the crew during the production of Armageddon. Jerry Bruckheimer recalls Willis as a "good guy" and a "giving guy" who became a "good friend" over the years. Despite retiring from acting due to frontotemporal dementia, Willis' family continues to share updates on his condition.

Bruce Willis’s generosity while working on the movie Armageddon has been recalled and recounted by legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer in a new interview with People. Bruckheimer has several movies releasing in the next few months, including the action sequels Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and Bad Boys: Ride or Die. During a discussion about his long and successful career, the producer took a moment to reflect on working with Willis on the 1998 disaster movie.

In Armageddon, Willis portrayed Harry Stamper, the world's best deep-sea oil driller, recruited by NASA to stop a colossal asteroid from colliding with Earth.

Exclusive: Sony’s 3000 Pictures has set Justin Kuritzkes to adapt City on Fire, the first of a bestselling novel trilogy by Don Winslow that is being developed as a star vehicle for Austin Butler.

Kuritzkes is hot off writing the script for the Luca Guadanino-directed Zendaya starrer Challengers, and Butler is producing along with David Heyman of Heyday Films and Shane Salerno of The Story Factory.

After Challengers, Kuritzkes adapted Guadagnino’s next film Queer, starring Daniel Craig and based on William S. Burroughs’ 1985 novel. In 2019, Kuritzkes’ debut novel, Famous People, was published by Henry Holt and Co.

3000’s Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing the City on Fire project for the studio, and Drew Reed was instrumental in tracking the book series.

Winslow’s swan song trilogy – the final installment City in Ruins is just landing on the bestseller lists after being published by William Morrow – is...

While Amazon MGM Studios didn’t take the stage at CinemaCon, they did meet with exhibitors and key press to strut their future theatrical slate, in particular they showed off ten minutes of the Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans’ movie Red One. While we agree to keep mum about the details of the Santa Claus rescue movie, let’s just say the originally conceived for Prime Video title is definitely meant for theatrical, which is where it’s going on Nov. 15; the only wide release currently on that weekend.

Let’s just say that Red One is a fire-breathing Christmas action movie that completely reinvents the holiday genre. There hasn’t been a mass appealing Christmas tentpole in six years, the last being Illumination/Universal’s The Grinch which made over a half billion worldwide. Red One is a really fun original action film for both Johnson and Evans, and...