Thursday, July 11, 2013

To Infinitum And Beyond...




At the moment when all the critics are saying Johnny Depp's star is fading, the Mouse doubles down...

Those of you that haven't heard, the actor is being reported as nearing a deal to portray the Mad Hatter again in a sequel to "Alice in Wonderland".  What wasn't focused on quite nearly as much in that news is the actors first look deal with Disney through his production company, Infinitum Nihil.  Together, Depp's company will develop projects that will be potential starring, and for producing vehicles under his shingle .

One of those projects is a sequel to the live-action blockbuster "Alice in Wonderland", but other projects will be developed as well.  One of these could be the biopic Paul Revere which his company has been developing with screenwriters Janet Scott Batchler and her writing partner/husband Lee Batchler, currently being rewritten by E. Nicholas Mariani (and many of you will remember that one of my favorite screenplays, "Smoke & Mirrors").  Other projects will be there else as well, but Disney has right of first refusal.  Not all pictures that Infinitum Nihil are developing happen to be family oriented, so it's unsure right if these projects could/would possibly be distributed under the Touchstone Pictures banner, or possibly even the Hollywood Pictures banner.    


While some in Hollywood have speculated that the staying power of this blockbuster actor is now on the wane, the Mouse's Suits in Burbank have planted a flag stating that they still have every confidence in Captain. Jack Sparrow and all his iterations beyond that iconic character.  Jerry Bruckheimer's deal with Disney may not be so bright though. His contract is set to close out in 2014 and at the very least with the recent box office disappointments ("Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", "The Lone Ranger", etc.), it will most likely be renegotiated with much less lucrative compensation.

Johnny Depp's relationship with the studio looks to go to infinity, and beyond...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This deal was done last April. But they (Depp's publicity) recently made the announcement to save face from the Lone Ranger's negative press.

Anonymous said...

Quite possibly the most unwanted sequel in recent movie history.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully he'll stop doing "quirky" characters and go back to his more soulfull work.