| PAR EYES FILMS OF RIPLEY'S ODDITIES
by Zorianna Kit Reprinted from Hollywood Reporter Instead, after nine months of intense negotiations, Paramount has teamed with Orlando-based Ripley Entertainment Inc. to create a franchise feature film series based on the real-life character and adventures of Robert L. Ripley, founder of Ripley's Believe It or Not! Studio-based Alphaville will produce the project with Atchity Entertainment International Inc. (AEI). An artist, athlete and explorer, Ripley created the first "Believe It or Not" cartoon in 1918 when, as a 25-year-old sports cartoonist for the New York Globe, he strung together an assortment of sports oddities. The response was tremendous, and the strip quickly grew to other categories, including human, animal, historical and scientific. Ripley eventually began a worldwide search for the unusual, traveling to more than 200 countries during the 1930s and '40s. Winning fame and fortune with his celebrations of the outlandish, Ripley became an eccentric, wealthy man before succumbing to a heart attack at age 55. He was described by some as being a mix of Marco Polo, P.T. Barnum, Citizen Kane, Sherlock Holmes and Doc Savage, and legend has it that the James Bond character was based in part on him. Paramount, Alphaville and AEI aim to create a series of feature films that would focus on Ripley's worldwide adventures and explorations, including his encounters with the bizarre and strange. A writer has not yet come aboard to write the first draft of the inaugural feature. Alphaville's Jim Jacks and Sean Daniel will produce the features with AEI's Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong. It was Atchity who brokered the feature deal for Ripley Entertainment on behalf of SignaturesNetwork's Dell Furano, who holds the merchandising rights to Ripley Entertainment. Alphaville executives Jennifer Moyer and Susanna Jolly brought the project to the company more than a year ago, which then piqued the interest of the studio. "We're really excited to be in business with Paramount and Alphaville," said Ripley Entertainment executive vp Norm Deska, who helped negotiate the deal, reporting to Ripley Entertainment president Bob Masterson. "We're looking forward to developing this project with them for the big screen." Atchity's and Wong's producer deals were negotiated by the law firm of Colden, McKuin & Frankel. |