Actor, and someone I think we can safely name as action star, Gerard Butler, has been fun to talk about in recent weeks. He has a spate of new action thrillers coming down the pipeline and on Friday he has added another to the list with the new film, A Darker Shade of Magic. He'll be pairing up with producer Neal Moritz for an adaptation of author Victoria Schwab's 2015 Tor Books YA publication for Sony who are in negotiations for the rights after beating three other studios in a bidding war in recent weeks.
via Tor:
Kell is one of the last Travelers—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes.
There’s Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, ruled by a mad King George. There’s Red London, where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London, a place where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London…but no one speaks of that now.
Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see—a dangerous hobby, and one that has set him up for accidental treason.
Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations, who first robs him, then saves him from a dangerous enemy, and then forces him to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive—and that is proving trickier than they hoped.
Butler will produce the film via his G-Base banner according to THR, and in the company of Alan Siegel and Danielle Robinson with Moritz producing along with the author herself. Executive producing is Toby Ascher with Matt Milam and Columbia Pictures president Sanford Panitch overseeing the film while the production looks toward expanding the film's reach into franchise territory with book sequels, last year's "A Gathering of Shadows" and "A Conjuring of Light", which just hit shelves this week.
Butler just landed the lead role as of last month in veteran stunt coordinator Darrin Prescott's upcoming directorial debut, Snow Ponies with G-Base and stunt facility and production banner 87eleven producing for Sierra/Affinity. Also on deck for the actor is Donovan Marsh's Hunter Killer for Millenium Films, Christian Gudegast's Den Of Thieves for STX Entertainment, and Dean Devlin's Geostorm for Warner Bros. Pictures all expected to release this year.
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