More Clones, Disney Style...

It appears that Curtis Hanson(L.A. Confidential, Wonder Boys) is in negotiations with Disney to direct the long gestating project "Gemini Man" for Touchstone Pictures...

The story, for those that don't know, is about an aging assassin that suddenly finds he's being pursued by another, younger assassin looking to take him down. He finds out that the younger killer is in fact, his clone that the organization he works for has sent out to retired him.

This project has been through so many revisions I've lost count, but it appears the Suits finally have a likable draft. It doesn't mean it's the best draft("I Am Legend," for instance), but if they're prepared to sign Hanson, then they're prepared to go before cameras. Jerry Bruckheimer is producing the flick. No word yet on who will star as the assassins, but the project has had everyone from Harrison Ford to Mel Gibson attached.

Developing...

Tentpoles...

Tentpoles.

Every studio wants them. For those of you that don't know what a "tentpole" is, well it's a movie they hang everything else on during that year or season. Usually there is a "Summer Tentpole" like Pirates or Spiderman 3 or a "Fall/Holiday Tentpole" like HP and the Goblet of Fire or Narnia was. It's the one film they hope to identify themselves with and the one out of their schedule that most of their financial livelyhood rides on.

So I thought we'd take a look at what the Mouse has for Tentpoles over the next few years...

Summer 2008 Tentpole:

The Chronicles of Narnia:Prince Caspian - The continuing saga of Pevensie children and their journeys to Narnia.

Fall/Holiday Tentpole:

Bedtime Stories - The Disney/Adam Sandler vehicle that has an overworked executive telling stories to children that become real.

Summer 2009 Tentpole:

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time - The Bruckheimer/Bay extravaganza loosely based on the video game.

Fall/Holiday 2009 Tentpole:

The Princess and the Frog - Disney's return to glorious hand drawn animation.

Summer 2010 Tentpole:

The Lone Ranger - The story of a masked ranger that fights for justice with his American Indian sidekick.

Fall/Holiday 2010 Tentpole:

Rapunzel - Glen Keane's CG (co)directorial debut of the classic fairy tale.

Not a bad line up, and it's not a complete line up... for 2008 Walt Disney Pictures will also have "The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless" for a Holiday release unless it gets delayed. This doesn't even take into account several other films such as "Jungle Cruise", "American Dog" or "Gemini Man" but it does show you a shift into a direction of big, epic spectacles which was a territory the Mouse avoided under the stewardship of Michael Eisner. Oh, and we've forgot to mention a "possible" Summer 2011 Tentpole:

Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

Now all they have to do is write it...

Disney Seeing Double...

Walt Disney Pictures have gotten Jerry Bruckheimer to come aboard and produce the long gestating script: Gemini Man. Bruckheimer and the Mouse have hired screenwriter David Benioff(Troy and the awesome Wolverine script which is cool as all get out) to do a complete rewrite of the project. Benioff will be paid $2 million for the rewrite! Wow...

Gemini Man is the story of an aging hitman in a game of cat and mouse with a younger assassin that he soon finds out is a clone of himself.

I've read the old draft by Jonathan Hensleigh and thought it was a great read. I guess they're now aiming for a "PG-13" rating since the version I read was a solid "R". This script had Harrison Ford attached at one point with them talking of taking Star Wars footage of a younger Ford and CGI'ing it into the film. Ford dropped out and the script then had Mel Gibson linked to the project for a while. No one has talked about casting for the new version of Gemini Man since they'll have to wait for Benioff's rewrite.

Looks like Disney is branching out and trying to expand what audiences will accept as the Walt Disney Pictures brand. Jungle Cruise, Prince of Persia and now this. The key words here are epic and franchise I believe...