Nick, Overbrook hit 'Mark'
Smith starrer to launch first as a feature then as TV series
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Nickelodeon Movies and Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment are moving forward on sci-fi actioner "The Mark," a long-in-development project, with Smith toplining.
Project, first set up in 1998 by Overbrook and Centropolis at Universal with a script from Rob Lifield, will be produced by Nick Movies senior VP Julia Pistor and Overbrook partners Smith and James Lassiter. The producers have tapped the writing team of Gregg Chabot and Kevin Peterka ("Reign of Fire") to adapt "The Mark."
Smith will star as an everyman who discovers a strange mark has transferred to his body from the corpse of a Confederate soldier. Although the mark grants him special powers, he also struggles with the impulse to use it for evil purposes.
"The Mark" will launch first as a feature and then as an animated TV series on Spike TV -- a reversal from Nick's usual approach of developing features for Paramount based on shows from the Nick cable net such as "SpongeBob SquarePants," set for release Nov. 19.
The project also reflects Paramount-based Nick's ongoing move toward mainstream fare following "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," starring Jim Carrey, Jude Law and Meryl Streep; Par and DreamWorks co-financed pic for a Christmas release.
Nick bought rights to "Snicket" in 1999 prior to its book release and has employed similar strategies on three other properties that have become bestselling children's books -- "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging" by Louise Rennison, "The Spiderwick Chronicles" by Holly Black & Tom DiTerlizzi and "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli. David Berenbaum ("Elf") is scripting "Spiderwick."
Nick is developing a pair of CGI properties: "The Barnyard," with writer-director Steve Oedekerk and his O Entertainment; and "Mighty Mouse," with producer-director John Woo, based on the animated cartoon series. Nick is aiming for a holiday 2005 release for "Barnyard," based on animals' hidden antics.
Other projects in Nick's development pipeline include "Father Knows Best," an updated version of the classic sitcom; "Widow's Broom," based on Chris Van Allsburg's book about a witch's broom, with Van Allsburg writing and Scott Kroopf, William Teitler and Van Allsburg producing; "Where's Waldo," based on Martin Handford's book and comicstrip character; "Sector 7," based on David Weisner's book about a cloud creature, with Ted Hope producing; and "We Do," a wedding comedy starring Jamie Foxx with Foxx and Jaime King producing.
