Busy day for director, Chris Columbus.
Not only has Fox shifted his next two movies, I Love You, Beth Cooper and Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief, in the release schedules, but the Harry Potter director has entered talks with a view to finally becoming the guy who can turn Ripley’s Believe It Or Not into a movie.
If you cast your minds back, allllll the way to 2007, you may recall that Tim Burton and Jim Carrey came this close to turning the life story of Robert Ripley – explorer, anthropologist, newspaper columnist and founder of the chain of bizarro museums which share a title with the movie – into a fantastical adventure film.
But budgetary concerns meant that Paramount pulled the plug just months before filming was due to begin in China. Burton exited the project, but Carrey remained attached, and is set to play Ripley now after Columbus approached both him and Paramount with a brand new China-free concept for the movie.
Said concept is remaining under wraps, but Paramount and Carrey were excited enough to say yes, and so a new screenwriter is being sought. Paramount is aiming for a 2011 release, with hopes that it might spawn a new franchise.
All of which gives Columbus enough time to finish Percy Jackson before entering Ripley’s.
Both Columbus and Carrey are enjoying something of a purple patch at the moment, and they might just spark off each other nicely. We keep hoping that Columbus will find a project that will allow him to rekindle the pitch-black comedy of Gremlins, and perhaps Ripley’s will afford him that opportunity.