EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures’ live-action Barbie movie is a priority project for the studio and is targeting a June 2017 release date. We’re hearing that part of that push is taking an aggressive approach with the screenplay: the studio is securing three writers to draft scripts. The first is by Lindsey Beer, the second by Bert Royal; and a third by Hilary Winston. This is happening fast, but Beer’s and Royal’s deals have been sealed.
In March, Sony tapped Cody to write a draft version based on Mattel’s top-selling fashion doll that the studio homes will anchor a global film franchise. That came after an April 2014 deal with Mattel and Parkes+MacDonald/Image Nation for the comedy, and Jenny Bicks wrote the first draft.
Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are producing with Amy Pascal.
