Hot off directing The Hunger Games for Lionsgate, the director behind Pleasantville and Seabiscuit has been seen as one of the top talents in town and a whole lot of people are interested to see what he might do next. Alas, the rumors are true in that he will be directing a Peter Pan movie for Disney called Peter and the Starcatchers.
This news may come as sour grapes to Lionsgate/Summit who thought they could hire Ross again after going another way on The Hunger Games sequel, but he apparently was not interested in helming The Secret Life of Houdini. Reports are suggesting that he never even entered into negotiations to direct that effort which is presumably still in development.
The project in focus today is one based on a book by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Peter and the Starcatchers can be considered a prequel to Peter Pan which is a property that most people are familiar with. Hollywood has tackled the saga a number of times already and Disney has shown more fondness than anyone else for the franchise.
Deadline says that the studio is currently waiting on a rewrite of Jesse Wigutow’s script which is due in October. Should the wheels fit, Ross well be directing the effort next year possibly setting up a 2014 release at the earliest. That might be a tad early to validate, but what can be assured is that Starcatchers is being set up to be a mega property as the book has spawned multiple sequels through Disney’s publishing arm.
This will not be the first time Disney has prequelized a classic into a series as the studio has high hopes for Oz the Great and Powerful, a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is directing the James Franco-starrer for the mouse house with a release date set for March 8, 2013.