Despite the success of Black Swan, I can see studios balking at Noah's price tag. It'll need to do $350M++ at the box office and Christian conservatives are not likely to support it the way they did Passion of Christ. There is also the matter of casting as only a handful of actors -- Brad, Leo, (Johnny?) -- can carry the film and get it greenlit -- and their calendars are likely already tight for the next year.
Darren Aronofsky Shops Noah's Ark Epic
| Wednesday June 8, 2011 @ 12:46am EDTEXCLUSIVE: I'm told that town is tantalized by a package circulating with Darren Aronofsky directing Noah, an edgy re-telling of the Noah's Ark story. Aronofsky wrote a script that is getting a rewrite by John Logan. I've heard he wants $130 million to make it and that New Regency is eyeing a co-financing role. Suitors considering stepping up for the other half include Paramount and Fox, as well as Summit, I've heard. It was described to me as a big fantasy epic, and an opportunity for Aronofsky to create a world. He's very passionate about it and wants to make it next film, after dropping out of The Wolverine. Aronofsky's got more heat on him than ever after directing the spectacularly profitable Black Swan, which grossed $315 million worldwide on a $12 million budget. His move toward Noah comes after Aronofsky recently flirted with Exodus, the 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment-produced telling of the story of Moses, his defiance of the Pharoah and delivery of the Hebrews from enslavement. That script was written by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage. Beyond an ill-advised morphing of the Noah's Ark story into the Universal spinoff comedy Evan Almighty, nobody has tried to tell the Noah's Ark story in as ambitious a manner as Aronofsky intends. Will a studio step up to help Aronofsky build this boat on as grand a scale as he desires? Stayed tuned. Aronofsky and Logan are repped by CAA.
