Tagged: Universal

Jason Bourne may have trouble recalling his past, but Universal remembers it fondly as an incredible cash cow. Unsurprisingly, the studio is returning to the bovine in question for more milk.

An untitled fourth installment in the Bourne franchise is officially headed for the scripting phase, reports Variety. George Nolfi, who co-wrote The Bourne Ultimatum with Tony Gilroy, will script the latest round for the amnesiac assassin. Matt Damon is attached to the project, as is Paul Greengrass, who directed The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum. Frank Marshall produces, with Jeffrey Weiner and Henry Morrison as executive producers. The untitled Bourne film is said to be a top priority for Universal as they continue to mount tentpole properties.

Although Matt Damon is attached to star, it’s likely that a fourth film would feature several brand new faces. The franchise has a history of killing off its leading characters, including (spoiler alert) those played by Chris Cooper, Brian Cox and Franka Potente. Julia Stiles and Joan Allen’s characters remain at large. With Stiles’ Nicky set up as a potential love interest in Ultimatum, odds are good that the character could resurface. Unless she’s already committed to Save the Last Dance 3.

Unlike the previous three installments, Variety states that the latest Bourne adventure will not be based on the original novels from Robert Ludlum. In actuality, though the first three films share the titles of Ludlum’s original three novels, the movies are dramatic departures from the books in terms of plot, content and characters. In fact, Ludlum only wrote three Bourne novels, all of which have already been "adapted" to the big screen.

If the film franchise continues to borrow names from the novels, the fourth film may be called The Bourne Legacy based on Eric Van Lustbader’s 2004 novel. The author, who continued Ludlum’s franchise after his death in 2001, also wrote The Bourne Betrayal and The Bourne Sanction. It’s unlikely that the films will follow Legacy‘s plot, seeing as Bourne is approximately 60 years old in Lustbader’s series and Damon is still a few years shy of senior citizen status.

What would you like to see in a fourth Bourne? What would you want the title to be? ReBourne? Still Bourne? Bourne in the USA? Weekend at Bourney’s? As always, sound off below!

Director Guillermo del Toro has pacted with Universal Studios to helm four new films, three remakes — Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Slaughterhouse-Five – plus an adaptation of Dan Simmons’ novel Drood.  The director has also discussed his desires to make a film based on H.P. Lovecraft’s "At the Mountains of Madness” and there’s also the matter of Hellboy III.

These will all follow del Toro’s four year commitment to live and work in New Zealand as he mounts the two-film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Script work on that project has already begun with del Toro working alongside producer Peter Jackson, and writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Drood, which was released by Little Brown in February, is likely to be the first of four Universal films, according to Variety. The novel posits a train accident altered author Charles Dickens’ mind, turning him into a killer which inspired his The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Del Toro has made it clear for some time now his desire to remake Frankenstein, the 1931 film that began Universal’s journey into movie monsters that became its hallmark.  "To me, Frankenstein represents the essential human question: ‘Why did my creator throw me here, unprotected, unguided, unaided and lost?’ “del Toro said.”With that one, they will have to pry it from my cold dead hands to prevent me from directing it."

He has also indicated a desire for Jekyll and Slaughterhouse to both be more faithful to the source material than previous incarnations.

"I think they’ll decide when the last euro hits the piggybank," del Toro said of Universal hedging their bets on letting him complete the Hellboy trilogy he envisioned. "We laid the groundwork to have a magnificent third act. I’d like to return to an action franchise with 60-year-old actor Ron Perlman, because he’ll be scratching at that age when I get to it."  Universal indicated they may take a viral marketing approach to better prepare audiences for the final film if the decision to go forward is made.

As a producer, del Toro is already committed to working with Mark Johnson on Hater, based on David Moody’s novel plus Crimson Peak, a gothic romance del Toro and Matthew Robbins (Mimic) cowrote.

"No one expected The Hobbit to come about; it was the most marvelous monkey wrench tossed into my life," del Toro told the trade. "I consider (the new deals) the renewal of my marital vows with Universal."

Universal production president Donna Langley said,” We came out the other side of some tough conversations with a stronger bond and sense of long-term commitment," Langley said. "Guillermo is in the most prolific time of his life … Joe Johnston on The Wolf Man showed us the importance of entrusting the Universal franchise monsters to experienced filmmakers with voices. That was a big impetus for our decision to go with Guillermo to put his creative stamp on these properties."