‘SALEM’S LOT and video game adaptations – Script Sales from March/April 2019

by John | May 29, 2019 | Industry News

It’s always important to keep up to date with what scripts are selling, and there are some interesting things to note from Script Pipeline’s last couple of reports on sales from March and April…

First of all, sales have slowed lately because a dispute has led to most WGA members firing their agents. That alone is worth keeping an eye on; how script sales will be conducted in the future, and how practices will change as a result of this, could have major ramifications for our industry.

Apart from this, here are some of the things that caught our eye in these latest reports…

• There’s been some controversy over the casting of Will Smith as Richard Williams, the father of Venus and Serena, in biopic KING RICHARD. With Smith set to also produce, however, it’s unlikely that the casting will change. This could be a powerful sports biopic if handled correctly.
• The DC Extended Universe will continue with THE FLASH – and unusually, it seems they’re allowing Ezra Miller, who plays the title role, to write it as well.
• Although they haven’t traditionally fared well (DETECTIVE PIKACHU excepted), another video game adaptation is being attempted in the form of SAINTS ROW. Lacking the brand appeal of franchises like POKEMON or ASSASSIN’S CREED, it remains to be seen whether there’s really an audience for this.
• On a similar note, last year’s TOMB RADIER reboot is getting a sequel. We weren’t too impressed with it ourselves, but it’s clearly done well enough at the box office to deserve a follow up.
• With recent adaptations of IT and PET SEMETARY, bringing the works of Stephen King to the screen is popular right now. That trend continues with ‘SALEM’S LOT – here’s hoping it’s more like the former than the latter in terms of quality.

If you want to see what else has been sold these last couple of months, take a closer look at Script Pipeline’s report on March Script Sales by clicking here, or click here for sales from April!