Christopher Storer (left) and Tom Holland (right). There’s no denying that Warner Bros. remains in a state of limbo until it’s officially swallowed by David Ellison’s Paramount-Skydance.
Case in point: Warners was ready to move forward on “The Lincoln Highway,” a red-hot project with Christopher Storer, one of the most in-demand writer-directors in town who’s finally available after finishing the fifth and final season of FX’s “The Bear.” Tom Holland, who’s poised to have a killer year between Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” was attached to star. Plus, the movie boasts fancy IP given that it’s based on prestige author Amor Towles’ massive best-selling follow-up to “A Gentleman in Moscow.”
But sources tell Page Six Hollywood that studio heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy opted not to greenlight the film at a budget in the $30 million to $40 million range. The studio hasn’t exactly let the project go, but it is allowing Storer and “Harry Potter” franchise producer David Heyman “to look for a new home” for the film, says a Warners source.
That has rival studios salivating as they line up to make their pitches. “He’s a filmmaker everyone wants to work with,” says a top executive at a rival studio.
The 2021 book, which debuted at No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list where it spent 25 weeks, follows two young brothers who embark on a road trip across Middle America in the 1950s. It also offers some literary allusions to “The Odyssey” (appropriately enough, considering Holland’s involvement).
Storer, who has won four Emmys as the creator, co-showrunner, writer and director of “The Bear,” would direct “Lincoln Highway” from his own screenplay.
While the film most certainly will find a home — leaving Warner Bros. in the rearview — most on the Burbank lot are optimistic that the Paramount uncertainty will end sooner rather than later. Some are hopeful that the $110 billion deal will close as early as July.
“Otherwise, we’ll be seeing a lot more of this,” worries an exec on the lot.
Warner Bros. and WME, which represents Storer and Holland, declined comment.
Though unrelated, top Warner Bros. executive Kevin McCormick, who had been shepherding “Lincoln Highway,” told colleagues yesterday that he is exiting for a producing deal at the studio.
