Jackson Grabs ?Bones?
From variety.com
The Lovely Bones an Alice Sebold novel is about to make it to the big screen! Peter Jackson (King Kong, Dead Alive) returns to his roots in creating an adaptation of the novel, which he co-wrote with partners Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and plans to direct. However, as of right now Jackson is still in the processes of looking for a studio partner.
According to variety, Jackson is something of an anomaly among big-budget helmers in that he's without a studio deal. That's given him the freedom to develop the script for Bones at his own pace.
The only major studio omitted from Monday's action was New Line. That's no surprise, given the ongoing legal dispute between the studio and Jackson's Wingnut Films over royalties on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. As a result of that feud, Jackson balked at directing The Hobbit for the studio.
New Line co-topper Bob Shaye has declared that he'll never let Jackson
helm Hobbit during his watch, much to the consternation of Harry Sloan and MGM, which shares rights to the pic with New Line and wants to proceed with the project.
As of early Monday evening, the bidding for Bones had not yet begun in earnest. In addition to the majors, the project was sent to smaller companies, including United Artists.
Jackson scooped up the film rights to Bones from FilmFour in 2004. (FilmFour is still a partner on the project.) Since then, the filmmaker has insisted that Bones would be his next directing project after King Kong.
Before Jackson became involved, DreamWorks was in talks to board the project.
Sebold's tome tells the story of a 14-year-old girl who is raped and killed. Her spirit, however, keeps watch over her family and her killer.
Boyens and Walsh were Jackson's writing partners on LOTR and Kong.
