Movies
The Spirits Tells Universal To Pass On ‘Ouija’
Passing on At The Mountains Of Madness earlier this year and recently squashing the multi-film and TV Dark Tower series, it looks like Platinum Dunes’ Ouija is the latest casualty in Universal’s project slashing war.
The studio has put the property – which has McG directing and Michael Bay producing – into turnaround, despite their costly deal with Hasbro and Milton Bradley to develop their properties for the big screen. Universal is so uninterested in the project that they’re willing to pay the $5 million penalty for dropping it, a stipulation laid out in their development deal.
This comes three weeks after Uni passed on rebooting Clue. The studio is either afraid to develop Hasbro and Milton Bradley properties until they see how Battleship does (maybe it’s as god awful as the trailer makes it look) or doesn’t want to take any costly risks after Cowboys And Aliens tanked at the box office.
Bay and McG are supposedly shopping the project around, with Paramount already passing on it.
Two-time BAFTA winning filmmaker Joe Wright (Hanna, “Black Mirror“) is set to direct the feature adaptation of post-apocalyptic thriller novel, Juice, Deadline reports today.
Emmy winner Abi Morgan (Shame, “Eric”) will adapt Tim Winton‘s novel for Working Title Films.
In Juice, “A young husband and father is recruited into a top-secret resistance organization, to join the ranks of militia men tasked with targeting the isolated and wealthy culprits responsible for this global catastrophe. When a mission goes wrong, he finds himself on the run, having to fight to the end to survive in this hostile world.”
It’s set in a world ravaged by climate-change disaster.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled that Tim Winton has entrusted us with his extraordinary epic,” Wright told Deadline. “The story is both a thrilling modern family saga and an urgent call to action. I cannot wait for audiences to experience it on the big screen.”
Winton added, “I’m pleased to know a filmmaker of Joe Wright’s calibre has chosen to adapt Juice for the screen. His capacity to portray the turmoil and the turning points of nations and peoples as well as private individuals distinguishes his work as a director and I’m confident that Juice is in good hands.”
Juice was initially published in October 2024 and longlisted for The Climate Fiction Prize 2026.
You must be logged in to post a comment.