Disney, Col team for Williams starrer 'Man'
Mouse does domestic marketing, Col handles intl release
Disney, which has developed the Nicholas Kazan-scripted project, will handle domestic marketing and distribution, and Columbia will oversee the international release.
The pic, which began production this week in San Francisco, reunites Williams and Columbus, who last teamed on the 1993 Fox hit "Mrs. Doubtfire."
It's based on Isaac Asimov's short story "Bicentennial Man" and Asimov and Robert Silverberg's sci-fi novel "The Positronic Man."
Williams stars as Andrew, a 200-year-old domestic android, who, over the course of his long relationship with the Martin family, slowly takes on human characteristics and becomes obsessed with being human.
Sam Neill, Embeth Davidtz and Oliver Platt co-star.
Pic's producers are Laurence Mark, Neil Miller, Wolfgang Petersen (who at one time was attached to direct the pic), Gail Katz, Mark Radcliffe, Michael Barnathan and Columbus.
"Bicentennial" has had a tumultuous trip to production. The film was in peril late last year, after Williams and Columbus had signed on when its budget rose to the $100 million range. But Disney and the producers managed to trim around $20 million and get it back on track.
This latest split-rights deal gives Disney more breathing space on the project and gives Sony (Columbia's parent) an international event pic.
"As this project came together and the sheer scale of the production became evident, it was obvious to us that we wanted a partner to maximize production, marketing and distribution," Disney chairman Joe Roth said.
Disney and Columbia are hopeful that this teaming will be as profitable as their previous split-rights deal, the 1997 Beacon Communications pic "Air Force One."
Sony recently picked up the international rights from Universal to its Denzel Washington thriller "The Bone Collector."
