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Exclusive: Warner Bros is finalizing a deal to preemptively acquire The Bet, a hot spec from Spanish screenwriter Javier Gullón (Enemy), according to multiple sources.

The studio declined comment. No deal figure was given.

While plot details are under wraps, the project has been described as a twisty, female-led thriller with pitch-black humor, set at a glittering destination for the ultra-rich. Ben Pugh, Peter Dealbert and Josh Varney will produce for 42.

A Goya Award nominee, Gullón is best known for scripting the surreal psychological thriller Enemy for director Denis Villeneuve. Released by A24 in 2014 after world premiering at the Toronto Film Festival, the film starred Jake Gyllenhaal as a man on a quest for his exact look-alike, after spotting him in a movie. Mélanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon, and Isabella Rossellini co-starred.

Gullón has sold and adapted numerous sci-fi short stories at auction for film and TV including Neanderthal (fka N...

After parting ways with director Bassam Tariq, Marvel Studios has moved fast and found not only his replacement but a new writer as well as Sources tell Deadline Yann Demange has signed on to direct the pic with Michael Starrbury to write a new script. Mahershala Ali is starring in titular role with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige producing.

After Tariq moved on from project, Marvel decided not to rush on finding his replacement as they wanted to make sure they got the right director and writer and decided to push pause on pre-production. They would also rearrange their release schedule, with the film now bowing on Sept. 6, 2024 and production now schedule to start next year in Atlanta.

By having the extra time to meet with candidates, Marvel could now zero in on the writer and director who could deliver the tone they wanted to achieve with this film. While...

A “Peacemaker” spinoff centered on Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller is in the works at HBO Max, according to an individual with knowledge of the project. Davis is in talks to reprise the role.

“Watchmen” writer Christal Henry will write and executive produce the series.

Davis previously told Nerd Report that she is ”fascinated by the character,” who serves the DC Universe in a similar capacity as Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Waller is described as “a former congressional aide and government agent who is often placed in charge of the Suicide Squad, a semi-secret government-run group of former super villains working in return for amnesty.”

“Peacemaker” is a continuation of the story that Gunn started telling in his 2021 DC film “The Suicide Squad,” which was his R-rated spin on various DC characters. With this HBO Max series – which Gunn wrote and largely directed – the...

Viola Davis is eyeing a return to the role of Amanda Waller in her own spinoff series currently in the works at HBO Max, Variety has learned from sources.

Exact plot details are mostly under wraps at this point, but sources say the show will build off of Waller’s appearance at the end of the “Suicide Squad” spinoff series “Peacemaker.”

Spoiler Alert: In the Season 1 finale of “Peacemaker,” Waller’s daughter and spy Adebayo (Danielle Brooks) outs her mother publicly for her work with Task Force X and the Suicide Squad. Davis made brief cameo appearances in the first and last episodes of the show.

Davis would executive produce the series in addition to starring. Christal Henry would write and executive produce. Henry’s past credits include the hit HBO limited series “Watchmen,” on which she wrote the episode “If You Don’t Like My Story, Write Your Own.

Exclusive: Sony Pictures Television’s TriStar is adapting Laurie Fabiano’s bestselling 2010 historical novel Elizabeth Street for television, with Edoardo Ponti (The Life Ahead) attached to direct and executive produce. Tyler Hisel has written a pilot for the project, based on Fabiano’s own great-grandmother’s epic struggles.

Elizabeth Street is set in New York’s Little Italy at the dawn of the 20th century. It follows Giovanna Pontillo, an Italian immigrant reeling in the wake of personal tragedy. Arriving in America, her survival and success on the streets of Old New York soon draws the unwanted attention of the notorious Black Hand, the earliest form of the Italian-American Mafia. As the stakes grow higher, Giovanna desperately fights to save what is important above all else – family.

“Elizabeth Street brings together everything that inspires me: the journey of a strong female protagonist who faces insurmountable odds to bring justice to her family,...

The Animation Picture Co. has optioned the feature rights to Sierra Entertainment's Spyro the Dragon franchise, with plans to produce a stereoscopic 3-D computer-animated feature.

Brothers Steve and Daniel Altiere will adapt the screenplay from the "Legend of Spyro" trilogy of games. The story follows Spyro, a rare purple dragon of prophecy, on a voyage of self-discovery as he struggles to come to terms with his potential while finding himself embroiled in an epic struggle against evil.

Animation Picture principals Dan Chuba, John Davis, Mark Dippe, Brian Manis and Ash Shah will produce.

The Altiere brothers' credits include the fourth "Dr. Dolittle" feature. They are repped by Paradigm, manager Jonathan Hung and attorney Robert Szymanski.

The Spyro games have generated more than $525 million in sales and shipped more than 20 million units worldwide since its introduction in 1998.

Sierra Entertainment is a division of Vivendi Games.

Collin Friesen is suiting up for writing duties on Man in Uniform, a New Line Cinema comedy that has Kevin James attached to star. Bob Cooper is producing via his Landscape Entertainment. The story follows an everyman (James) whose life changes when he takes possession of a policeman's missing uniform. The script originally was written by Michael Galvin and Peter Speakman. Richard Brener and Cale Boyter are overseeing for the studio. Friesen wrote The Big White, a crime caper with Robin Williams, Holly Hunter and Woody Harrelson. He also is writing Money, Money, Money for Universal. Friesen is repped by Endeavor, Principato-Young and attorney Rob Szymanski.

Level 1 Entertainment, a production company run by Edward Milstein and Bill Todman Jr., has picked up How to Win Back Your High School Sweetheart from first-time writer Robert Gelber for low- against mid-six figures. The comedy centers on a high school student who seeks revenge against the girl who broke his heart. The teenager concocts an elaborate scheme to win her back just so he can break up with her. Gelber is repped by John Jacobs and Colin O'Reilly. O'Reilly found the script through the Script-a-Palooza writing contest when he was looking for new writers. The two then took it out. Erin Newell brought the script into Level 1. She will supervise and co-produce. Gelber is additionally repped by attorney Rob Szymanski.

Bragi Schut has been hired to write the comic book property Criminal Macabre for MGM. Based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles, the story revolves around Cal McDonald, a hard-drinking, impetuous detective who takes on the supernatural in a decidedly low-tech, film noir style. Niles did a first draft of the project. Schut will do an entirely new take, with Dark Horse Entertainment producing and Toby Jaffe and Stephanie Palmer overseeing for the studio. Schut's other credits include The Last Voyage of the Demeter for Phoenix Pictures and Season of the Witch at MGM. Schut is repped by the Brant Rose Agency and Benderspink. His attorney is Rob Szymanski.

Scribe Valerie Horwitz has been tapped to adapt Getting and Spending, the feature film version of a play that Catherine Zeta-Jones is attached to star in for Pathe Entertainment. Horwitz will adapt Michael Chepiga's stage script, which centers on a woman -- to be played by Zeta-Jones -- who is accused of insider trading. She then attempts to lure a high-powered lawyer out of a self-imposed solitude to defend her in court. Milkwood Films, the production company that Zeta-Jones operates with her brother David Jones, is producing for Pathe. Horwitz is repped by CAA, Mission Management and attorney Rob Szymanski. She recently finished adapting the novel Social Crimes for Phoenix Pictures and helmer Joel Schumacher, who is attached to direct.