Based on the board game, this is conceived as a big budget family adventure film in the tone of “The Mummy,” set in multiple locations around the world. Action-adventure horror story in which a group of twenty-somethings violate all the mythic “don’ts” of the Ouija board and unleash a Pandora’s Box type of evil spirit bent on revenge.
Scott DiLalla’s Ouija movie I Am ZoZo (official website and Facebook) has been picked up by Image Entertainment, who has acquired US rights to the film.
The entire film was shot on Super8mm a few Halloweens back on San Juan Island, WA. It stars Kelly McLaren, Courtney Foxworthy, Demetrius Sager, Caleb DeBattista, and Caleb Courtney
“Five young people sneak into one of their rich dad’s island getaway on Halloween weekend. When they decide to play with a Ouija board things take a terrible turn for the worst as they become the target of a malevolent demon named ZoZo. The newest film from award-winning production outfit One World Studios will be the first feature film to be shot with Kodak’s new Super 8mm stock.” READ MORE
Last month it was announced, that after deciding to make its adaptation of Hasbro board game Ouija a low-budget pic, Universal Pictures recruited the team of Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (The Knowing, Boogeyman, Poltergeist, The Possession) to both rewrite and helm the pic, reports Variety.
Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wrote the original drafts for Ouija when it was envisioned as a big-budget pic. The project began at Universal but then shifted to Paramount with McG on board to direct. But Par could never come to terms on a budget, which spurred McG to exit the project. Universal re-acquired Ouija in March after Par put it in turnaround. Blum was brought on at that time to help Bay, Form and Fuller reimagine the property as a low-budget pic.
Last night STYD caught up with the pair who gave a brief update. White said “We just love the idea, when Juliet was growing up, her older sister had a Ouija board, my grandparents had a Ouija board up on the shelf in the closet, so I remember… I had a healthy sense of caution with it. I love the idea it’s a game, but not really a game. It’s sold as a game because where else can you put it in the store?” Snowden added, “Contact spirits with something you find on the shelf at Walmart or Target? That’s where we’re coming from with the story, it’s not just about one board, it’s any board and that’s what makes it scary.”
Looks like they’re ditching the adventure angle and headed more into horror. Jason Blum is producing through his Blumhouse Prods. shingle, as will Michael Bay through his Platinum Dunes banner along with Platinum partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller. Universal plans to release Ouija sometime in 2013. Snowden let slip that it might be in October.
After deciding to make its adaptation of Hasbro board game Ouija a low-budget pic, Universal Pictures has recruited the team of Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (The Knowing, Boogeyman, Poltergeist, The Possession) to rewrite and helm the pic, reports Variety.
Jason Blum will produce through his Blumhouse Prods. shingle, as will Michael Bay through his Platinum Dunes banner along with Platinum partners Andrew Form and Brad Fuller. Hasbro prexy-CEO Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir will also produce.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, although indications are it will be in keeping with the high-concept, low-budget model Blum has used with success for the Paranormal Activity franchise. Universal plans to release Ouija sometime in 2013.
Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wrote the original drafts for Ouija when it was envisioned as a big-budget pic. The project began at Universal but then shifted to Paramount with McG on board to direct. But Par could never come to terms on a budget, which spurred McG to exit the project. Universal re-acquired Ouija in March after Par put it in turnaround. Blum was brought on at that time to help Bay, Form and Fuller reimagine the property as a low-budget pic.
Super brief news as Universal’s Ouija once again points to “Yes”.
Ouija is reaching out from the beyond, as Universal has assigned the Hasbro project to Platinum Dunes and Blumhouse after halting production and putting it into turnaround late last year, reports Variety.
A contributing factor to the change of heart? Well, for starters the budget has been slashed from $100 Million to $5 Million. Talk about aggressive, and smart, cost cutting. While big budget films are occasionally warranted (and a lot of fun) it’s nice to see that we may be entering an era in which we see some of the artistic freedom associated with lowers costs make a comeback.
Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller will produce through Platinum Dunes, with Jason Blum producing through Blumhouse and Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir producing for Hasbro.
The terrible McG was at one time attached, hopefully that has changed. Based on the board game, this was originally conceived as a big budget family adventure film in the tone of The Mummy, set in multiple locations around the world. Action-adventure horror story in which a group of twenty-somethings violate all the mythic “don’ts” of the Ouija board and unleash a Pandora’s Box type of evil spirit bent on revenge. READ MORE
Indie filmmaker Darren Lynch has finally released the trailer for Ouija, which summons Jessica Gaucher-Thompson, Conner Lynch, Ekua Ghansah, Mark Heap, and Roxy Freeman.
“Ouija is centered around 9 friends who go out for the night in the woods, drinking and smoking. One of them decides to bring along the Ouija board, summoning a demon that then begins to stalk the camp, killing them one by one.”
Get a bunch of stills at the film’s official website. READ MORE
Ouija may not have a studio home anymore, but the supernatural project is still very much pointing to “yes”, reports Heat Vision.
Hasbro, which is financing development, and Platinum Dunes, the shingle producing the project, have hired well-regarded scribe Marti Noxon to work on the script.
Noxon cut her teeth and gained geek cred with her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and most recently wrote the remake of Fright Night. She also did a pass on Lionsgate’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Ouija was set up at Universal but was untethered in late August due to budgetary concerns. But Noxon’s hiring shows Hasbro is still very keen on the “Ouija” project, and is unafraid to spearhead its own development.
Ouija is still envisioned as a family adventure in the tone of The Mummy centering on a family who has to deal with otherworldly chaos that is unleashed. READ MORE
Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner caught up with the Hollywood Reporter to talk about their many toy-to-film franchises, one of which was an update to Universal Pictures’ Ouija that was to be directed by McG.
On Ouija, he drew a comparison to Walt Disney’s recent decision to restructure the budget for The Lone Ranger. That is “the same process we have gone through on the Ouija brand,” although at a lower level of spending, he said. Goldner added that the script is in good shape and is being polished now, meaning that the film could be back with a studio shortly.
Simon Kinberg, Evan Spiliotopoulos and Edward Kitsis has previously been working on the screenplay with a November 2012 release planned. That will change. Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes produces the action-adventure horror story in which a group of twenty-somethings violate all the mythic “don’ts” of the Ouija board and unleash a Pandora’s Box type of evil spirit bent on revenge.
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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.
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Ouija, the supernatural board game that’s being turned into an action-adventure by McG (Terminator Salvation) and Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes, is getting a boost from Simon Kinberg, reports the LA Times.
The A-list Hollywood writer — he’s written scripts for Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Sherlock Holmes, among others — is coming on to do a polish of the script for the Universal film. (A previous version was written by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, veterans of “Lost” who also wrote Tron: Legacy.) Universal confirmed the hire.
The move does offer an interesting window into the direction of the film. Although some were quick to assume the movie would have a supernatural bent, Kinberg’s specialty is big, upscale — and sometimes comedic — action pieces.
Still, the movie is going to be directed by McG, which in Vegas odds is like betting on the Chicago Cubs to win it all. “Good bye.”
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After McG was announced as the director of Platinum Dunes’ Ouija, I’d wager just about everyone on the face of the planet let out a collective groan – Universal replaced Brett Ratner on The Wolfman after a huge online outcry, maybe we can pull it off again?
Word now comes that Evan Spiliotopoulos has been brought in to work on the script, which was written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (Tron: Legacy, Lost).
The curious thing about this is that aside from some trashy looking DTV and Made-For-TV films, Spiliotopoulos is known for working on high-profile DTV animated flicks, such as The Lion King 1 1/2, The Jungle Book 2, and Pooh’s Heffalump Movie. In his defense, he worked on scripts for Wanted 2 and Agnes Quill, though it remains to be seen how good those ended up being. Regardless, we’ll all see how it turns out next November.
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The first TV Spot has been released for Patrick Lussier’s Drive Angry 3D (set report), which follows a vengeful father (Nicolas Cage) who hunts down the people who brutally killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. As the chase gets bloodier by the mile, his rescue spins out of control, leaving bodies strewn along the highway. Amber Heard (Pineapple Express), Billy Burke (The Twilight Saga), William Fichtner (The Dark Knight) and David Morse (Disturbia) also star. Patrick Lussier directs from the original screenplay he co-wrote with Todd Farmer who previously collaborated with him on My Bloody Valentine 3D.
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My Ouija board just spelled out the word “lame” after reading that McG (Terminator Salvation) is in early negotiations to direct the live-action adaptation of Hasbro’s popular board game (that never works). Scripted by Tron: Legacy writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis (another bad sign), the film is being produced by Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir along with Platinum Dunes partners Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form. Production will begin by the summer, for release November 12, 2012 from Universal Pictures. Ouija, launched by Parker Brothers in 1966, has sold over 12 million copies. Hasbro acquired it in 1991. I really would have liked to see Breck Eisner (The Crazies) direct.
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Universal execs have some homework over the holidays: picking a director for Ouija, the studio’s planned film adaptation of the classic Hasbro board game about conjuring up spirits of the dead, reports Heat Vision. Director McG (Terminator Salvation) on Friday afternoon presented to Universal execs his vision for the project, which has a script by Tron Legacy writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and is being produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes. McG, who is back in town after wrapping Fox’s This Means War in Vancouver, is vying for the gig against The Crazies director Breck Eisner (a much better decision), who pitched his take on the material the previous week. Not much is known about the plot of Ouija, although it’s described as a four-quadrant supernatural adventure centering around a family, with influences from The Mummy and Indiana Jones. The site adds that Sylvain White (The Losers), Pierre Morel (Taken), Scott Stewart (Legion) and John Moore (Max Payne) all lost out on the gig.
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Get ready for a rash of fresh news regarding Universal Pictures’ Ouija as Tron: Legacy screenwriters Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz make the press rounds. Kicking off the disappointment, Assignment X asked the duo about the board game adaptation and if it would be scar like The Ring. “No. It’s INDIANA JONES – that kind of tone. It’s a big adventure movie,” Horowitz tells the site. “That’s what we like,” Kitses chimes in. In theaters November 9, 2012, one thing that is known is that the movie is NOT taking a Jumanji-like approach, which involved a game coming to life. Pierre Morel is in talks to direct.
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While we wait on official word of Pierre Morel’s hiring on Universal Pictures’ Ouija, the Hasbro board game adaptation that also saw pitches from Sylvain White, Scot Stewart and John Moore, Heat Vision is reporting that Morel is also in talks to direct Warner Bros.’s EDF, aka Earth Defense Force, a giant alien invasion movie which is being produced by Sam Raimi and Bill Block, head of QED International, the outfit that is financing the project. The story is set after three alien fighters attack the planet, leaving countries humiliated. The governments of Earth then race to create a space fighting force in preparation for a second attack by an approaching alien horde. Warners is high on Morel for EDF, which is a favorite amongst certain execs but is waiting to see how Ouija plays out. Ouija is a high priority for Universal and would certainly go before EDF.
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Update: Fox will release Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in theaters on June 22, 2012. We have a couple of new boxoffice adjustments before the weekend. Summit Entertainment will release Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer’s Drive Angry 3D in theaters on February 25, 2011, two weeks later than previously scheded. Universal Pictures has locked the Hasbro board game adaptation of Ouija, which is being produced by Platinum Dunes, for release on November 9, 2012. Lastly, Ron Howard’s hotly anticipated adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower kicks off the summer of 2013 on May 17. You can get details on all three released by clicking any title above.
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It’s no secret that Hasbro and Universal have been courting big names for their film projects. With a six-year deal in place, the two mammoth entertainment companies have such flicks in the work as Monopoly (Ridley Scott), Battleship (Peter Berg), and Stretch Armstrong (Rob Letterman), with (a new) Clue and Magic: The Gathering on the short-list of possibilities. Last week, word got out that Taken helmer Pierre Morel is being courted to direct a film based on the slumber party staple, Ouija, but now a few more names have been tossed into the hat. Sources claim that Sylvian White (The Losers) and Scott Stewart (Priest, Legion) are also in talks to direct the action-adventure film, penned by Tron Legacy writers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis. Expect a decision to be made soon, as each director is being offered multiple projects right now.
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