Latest in Rights Acquisition

A re-imagining of the 1997 Broadway musical Jekyll and Hyde will be the first project under Birdman screenwriter Alexander Dinelaris’ Lexicon and Richard Saperstein's Bluestone Entertainment. Dinelaris has written a script and plans to produce a film version under the Lexicon banner. The original musical featured…

ESPN+ has expanded and extended its rights deal with the UFC and will now be the exclusive distributor of the MMA league’s pay-per-view events in the U.S. through 2025. The deal also adds two years to a five-year streaming rights pact struck last May for a reported $150 million a year. ESPN also has linear rights to…

Gunpowder & Sky has acquired the rights to Cristin Terrill's award-winning suspense novel Here Lies Daniel Tate to develop into a feature film. They are also partnering with screenwriters Nora Kletter (Queen Sized) and Grainne Belluomo to adapt the book but are changing the protagonist from male to female. The…

EXCLUSIVE: Bunny Lake is no longer missing. A remake of the 1965 crime thriller Bunny Lake is Missing, is in the early development stages under Sony’s Screen Gem label. The original was directed and produced by Otto Preminger and starred Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley, and Keir Dullea. Based on the novel of the same…

EXCLUSIVE: Media rights agent Rich Green has joined The Gotham Group after four years at ICM Partners. He will continue to rep IP for TV and film. Green joined ICM Partners in 2014 before being named the head of their Media Rights department last year. “Rich has been an incredibly valuable team player for ICM for many…

EXCLUSIVE: In the wake of the incredible National Geographic documentary Free Solo, which chronicles the first free solo climb of El Capitan’s 3,000-foot wall in Yosemite, comes another extreme-sports film. This one focuses on the late Doug Coombs, who pioneered back-country skiing, heli-skiing and mountain side…

2ND UPDATE, 12:22 PM, with details: Michael Jackson’s estate has upped the ante in its beef with ABC over the network’s airing of primetime special The Last Days of Michael Jackson. The estate today filed a lawsuit against the network and its parent Disney that claims ABC used the late singer’s songs, films and videos…

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Television has acquired the rights to Katarina E. Tonks's story series Death Is My BFF, which bowed via Wattpad, the Toronto-based storytelling app that combines crowdsourced content and other material. Paul Shapiro, who brought the project to Sony, will executive produce under his All In…

The H Collective and Vin Diesel/One Race Films have acquired rights to the xXx franchise from Revolution Studios, and Diesel will reprise his role as Xander Cage in the fourth installment that will go before cameras in December 2018. D.J. Caruso, who helmed last year’s xXx: Return of Xander Cage, is returning as…

Sci-fi classic vehicle V is being revived as a film by Desilu Studios, with the new version of the former TV series written and directed by the original ’80s series creator, Kenneth Johnson. Called V The Movie, the film’s casting and a release date are not yet determined. It will be produced by John…

EXCLUSIVE: Recording artist and newly minted American Idol judge Lionel Richie has been granted the rights to produce a feature based on the life of legendary songwriter and musician Curtis Mayfield. Richie, who acquired the rights from the Curtis Mayfield Estate, is mounting the project via his RichLion…

Casey Sherman, the co-author of the book Boston Strong (it was one of the many sources for the film Patriots Day) and the author of also of The Finest Hours, has — along with Ted Collins and producer Ryan Sweeney — acquired the rights to the story of outlaw biker turned undercover cop Wayne Bradshaw. They will develop…