‘Champion,’ Action/Thriller Spec, Acquired By Studio 8

EXCLUSIVE: Studio 8 just brought in another project. The company has acquired the action/thriller Champion about two American brothers, wrongly sentenced to prison in Thailand, who are then forced to compete in Thai boxing for a chance to win their freedom. The company is now out to directors.

This comes after Studio 8 recently acquired Graham Moore’s female strong, sci-fi thriller Naked is the Best Disguise, another sci-fi thriller from Robert Rodriguez and Max Borenstein’s entitled Hypnotic and the action thriller pitch Planet Kill which will be produced by Steven Soderbergh who may direct. Naked is the Best Disguise has been fast-tracked to go before the cameras this year.

The screenplay for Champion was rewritten by Brad Ingelsby (Run All Night, Out of the Furnace) from an original spec screenplay by Gary Scott Thompson (Fast and the Furious).

The project was originally developed at Storyscape Entertainment with Bob Cooper and Richard Saperstein who will both produce along with Pioneer Pictures’ Robert Kravis and Karl Hermann. Tyler Mitchell and Marc Fiorentino are on as executive producers.

Marc Fiorentino brought the project to John Graham who will oversee with Rishi Rajani for Studio 8.

Studio 8’s first two projects will come out this year. The first is the Yann Demange-directed White Boy Rick which will be released August 17 and following that will be Albert Hughes’ Alpha on September 14.

Ingelsby is repped by CAA and Brooklyn Weaver.