Hot on the ass of a brief about production starting this March on Legendary’s GODZILLA resurrection, here drops a new bombshell…
The great Frank Darabont (seen right) has been brought in to rewrite the script for GODZILLA, which I think most of us can not only appreciate, but be thrilled by. Remember, a longtime script doctor, Darabont got his start in the genre world by penning NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: DREAM WARRIORS, THE BLOB, THE FLY II, etc. He’s obviously an Oscar caliber filmmaker to boot, and still has is toe in genre waters having given us “The Walking Dead” before being unceremoniously fired.
Now, speaking of fired, word is Legendary is so unpleased with WB producers Roy Lee and Dan Lin that the company wants their name off the project for good. Lee and Lin were among those who came into the company with a rights deal for the mega-monster, but according to Mike Flemming, a nasty court battle over the property is imminent:
“Lin and Lee refused to reduce the fees they signed on for when the original deal was made. Legendary brass feels it has the latitude to get rid of them, and is doing just that, exercising a pay or play clause and paying them upfront money to go away, with no back-end or credit on the film. The potential back-end on a global franchise is where the big bucks are.”
Apparently Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, and with Brian Rogers will be the prime producers on GODZILLA for Legendary. Darabont will retool the script turned in by THE SEVENTH SON scribe Max Borenstein. The flick is still targeting a May 16, 2014 release.
Whitney Able, star of Gareth Edwards’ MONSTERS