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Paramount is taking the unusual step of discovering one of its major intellectual property franchises… GI Joe.
The David Ellison-owned studio has brought in Max Landis, a screenwriter who cut his job in late 2010 during the height of the #MeToo movement, to work on a feature adaptation for Hasbro’s toy brand.
At the same time, I was also hired Good gemstones Star and creator Danny McBride to work on a separate script for atmosphere. According to several sources, the studio will next try to combine the two scripts into one, but a source at the studio says these are separate projects.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura is the producer behind atmosphere films.
Developing two scripts at the same time is somewhat rare, but not unheard of. It happened as studios increased their focus on franchises and big IP plays in the 2000s. Warner Bros Tarzan And global The mummy Rebooting in mid-2010, the writers were working on two versions before merging their elements or moving a single script forward. Although not quite used this way, Paramount has previously put the Transformers and Star Trek film franchises on multiple paths, with several scripts in development, including a GI Joe/Transformers crossover film.
What He is What’s even more interesting is the hiring of Landis. The son of John Landis, one of Hollywood’s top directors of the 1980s, the younger Landis made a name for himself through screenwriting, where his prolific output attracted fans across the city. He was known for selling spec scripts to millions and achieved early success in 2012 Chroniclea supernatural thriller directed by Josh Trank and including Michael B. Jordan among its stars. books shininga big-budget fantasy film starring Will Smith and Joel Edgerton that became one of Netflix’s first hits.
He also had a strong perspective on superheroes, having written and directed a viral YouTube movie about Superman, and later writing a mini-comic series for DC.
But then several women came forward to speak out about Landis’ alleged behavior, accusing him of sexual and emotional abuse, culminating in a 2019 expose by The daily monster. In the aftermath, he was dismissed by his representatives as CAA and Writ Large, and saw the projects he was developing wither and die. No charges were ever brought against Landis.
In a YouTube video three years ago, Landis admitted to what he called serious relationship mistakes and described himself as a toxic partner to his girlfriends. “I understand why some people hate me,” Landis said at the time.
He has continued to present his superhero ideas, which appear in a series of YouTube videos, including one titled Max Landis Presents: Barry Allen’s Deposition. (Allen is the alter ego of DC hero The Flash.) Long monologues, which are Landis’ online specialties, are delivered by the writer with a character like Allen and can be seen as a parallel to his own life. He plays Allen as a persecuted scientist, on the verge of madness, whose career is over but is then given the opportunity to work again by evil billionaire Lex Luthor, who hires other criminals for his secret endeavors.
“I’m not one of the psychopaths,” Landis says near the end of the piece. “I’m just a genius.”
Landis’ hiring continues Skydance-run Paramount’s penchant for working with characters that have proven controversial in other parts of Hollywood. In fact, I’ve done it over and over again.
The operations headed by David Ellison, from Skydance to now Paramount, have a history of amassing distressed human assets. Early on, former Pixar boss John Lasseter was named head of animation at Skydance after admitting there were “mistakes” that made employees feel “disrespected and uncomfortable” at Pixar. Recently, it struck a distribution deal Rush hour 4which would mark the big studio return of disgraced director Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017 and also directed Melania Documentary about Amazon.
While McBride is known for his acting, he has also written great screenplays. Among his works is participating in the creation of shows such as Good gemstones, East and down and Deputy directorsall for HBO and with strong, superior comedic tendencies. He also spent recent years immersed in a state of terror, after co-writing the last novel Halloween The Blumhouse-produced trilogy as well as 2023 Al-Mu’awwidhatayn: The believerwhich failed at the box office and failed to relaunch the franchise as was hoped at the time.
