$30 million 'Adventurer' venture

Gallic helmer Gans goes English for actioner

By ALISON JAMES

CANNES -- Christophe Gans, director of French hit "Brotherhood of the Wolf," is developing his next film with StudioCanal, the ambitious $30 million pic "The Adventurer."

"Brotherhood" producer Richard Grandpierre, head of StudioCanal film unit Eskwad, told Daily Variety that the English-lingo pic will be " 'The Mummy' meets 'Indiana Jones,' a truly international adventure pic."

Gans and co-writer Stephane Cabel, who also co-wrote "Brotherhood," will have a first draft ready by the end of summer. Pic will lense in London, Paris and Myanmar sometime next year.

"Adventurer" is based on Henri Vernes' bestselling series "The Adventures of Bob Morane." Grandpierre recently secured film rights to the books.

Gans said, "The film will be very phantasmagoric with lots of action, but taking place against the backdrop of a real episode in history -- the end of Britain's colonization of Burma (now Myanmar) -- which adds another layer of meaning."

"I am thrilled that we can make an ambitious English-language picture without it necessarily being associated with an American company. But now that we are linked with Universal, if they were interested, we would of course be open to suggestions," said Grandpierre.

U recently paid $2 million for domestic distrib rights to "Brotherhood." Pic has racked up more than $11 million in pre-sales worldwide. It has enjoyed huge box office success in France and performed well in several other territories.

Grandpierre also is developing "Le Marquis Noir," being written by Jean Veber and to be directed by Andre Bonzel, and "Masai: The Rain Warriors," a fictional feature about Africa's Masai warrior tribe by documaker Pascal Plisson. It is being written by Olivier Dazat and co-produced by French company Mordicus.