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Walden Media has secured rights to develop a film based on the hyper-stylized, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi comic book Rex Libris.

Rex Libris follows the zombie-slaying, monster-wrestling adventures of quirky librarian Rex Libris whose heart beats to preserve, protect, and defend the books of the Middleton Public Library. As head librarian and a member of the secret society Ordo Biblioteca, Rex goes to extreme measures to track down late fees, retrieve library patrons sucked into alternate-realities, and restore order to the realm of book borrowing.

Written and illustrated by James Turner, Rex Libris is published by Slave Labor Graphics.

Walden Media has just signed on to co-finance with Universal Pictures the screen adaptation of Laura Hillenbrand’s bestseller Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption. The Water for Elephants team of screenwriter Richard LaGravenese and director Francis Lawrence are prepping the story about the unbreakable spirit of Louis Zamperini, the former Olympic track prodigy who endured unimaginable hardship as a WWII POW at the hands of Japanese prison guards.

This is a story that Universal Pictures has wanted to make since they bought the rights to the story more than 54 years ago.  Tony Curtis had planned on playing the role of Louis Zamperini after he completed work on Spartacus.

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We had the chance to interview Ingrid Law about her books Savvy and Scumble as well as where she might take the series with a potential third book in the series.  We hope that you enjoy it!

WaldenFans.com: Tell us a bit about yourself, for our readers that might not know much about you.

Ingrid: I was born in New York, but my family moved to Colorado when I was six years old. I still live in Colorado with my daughter, who is sixteen now. We both love movies and books and writing.

My first book, Savvy, came out in 2008 and was published by Dial Books, in partnership with Walden Media. Among Savvy’s accolades and awards, it has received a Newbery Honor and a Boston Globe – Horn Book Honor; it became a New York Times bestseller, and was selected by Oprah Winfrey and Al Roker for their reading lists and book clubs. Savvy was also optioned for a feature film by Walden Media. I followed up Savvy with a companion book, titled Scumble, which came out in 2010 and immediately became a New York Times bestseller. I never expected such an amazing response to my books. I feel very blessed, not only because of the success of the books, but because of the wonderful people I’ve had a chance to meet and work with because of them.

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The cast of Walden Media’s Still I Rise continues to grow, and the casting announcements remain very impressive.  This week Rosie Perez and Lance Reddick signed onto the film.

Inspired by America’s current education crisis, pic stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis as two frustrated mothers who team up to transform an inner-city public school in Pittsburgh.

Oscar Isaac and Holly Hunter co-star as a teacher and the head of the teachers union, respectively.  Perez will play a former teacher who is now the poised-yet-frank head of the school board, while Reddick will play Davis’ husband who’s also a teacher.  Daniel Barnz is directing, having recently rewritten Brin Hill’s original script.

Perez, whose last studio pic was 2008′s “Pineapple Express,” earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her turn in “The Take” opposite John Leguizamo, who she recently re-teamed with on the indie comedy “Fugly!”

Reddick is best known for playing Lt. Daniels on HBO’s “The Wire.” He also had a key recurring role on ABC’s “Lost” and recently appeared on the bigscreen in “Jonah Hex.”

Holly Hunter has signed a deal to star in Still I Rise, a look at the public education crisis in America. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis star as “two frustrated mothers who team up to transform an inner-city public school.”

Hunter will play the head of the teacher’s union. Director Daniel Barnz (Beastly) is now polishing a rewrite of the original Brin Hill screenplay. Production on the Walden Media/Fox collaboration begins next week in Pittsburgh.

This is Hunter’s first feature film role since 2005, following a television role on Saving Grace.

-via Collider

Inspired by America’s current education crisis, the film stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis as two frustrated mothers who team up to transform an inner-city public school.

Oscar Isaac will play Michael Raymond, a sexy, ukulele-playing teacher who helps inspire, challenge and romance Gyllenhaal’s character throughout the film.

Daniel Barnz (“Beastly“) is directing from an original script by Brin Hill, which the helmer then rewrote.

-via

Deadline has announced that Walden Media has has set a May 23 start in Pittsburgh on Still I Rise, the working title of a drama that will star Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis. Daniel Barnz, who most recently directed Beastly, will helm the film. Barnz recently rewrote the Brin Hill screenplay. Mark Johnson is producing through his Gran Via Productions banner. The film will be distributed domestically by 20th Century Fox.

The drama is about two mothers who channel frustration into action and join forces to transform an inner-city public school. Inspired by current events, the film takes aim at the crisis of public education in America. Walden’s Michael Bostick and Morgan Palmer are overseeing the project. Gyllenhaal just completed the Tanya Wexler-directed Hysteria. Davis, who won the Tony last year for Fences, just wrapped the DreamWorks adaptation of the Kathryn Stockett novel The Help and is shooting the Stephen Daldry-directed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

When I heard the title, Still I Rise, I instantly felt inspired.  The title alone elicits an emotional response, for some reason. I e-mailed Walden Media’s Micheal Flaherty for more details on the film, but there were still more details that had to be nailed down.  He did say, though, that it was one of his favorite projects that they were working on.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette also posted a story about it, which features more information:

“Still I Rise” is an original story about two strong women, both mothers, who channel their frustration into action and join forces to transform an inner-city school. They want to make a difference in education and the lives of their children.

The leads have yet to be cast, but production is expected to start May 2 or May 9, Walden Media executive Mylan Stepanovich said Monday.

Daniel Barnz, whose directing credits include “Beastly,” starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer, and “Phoebe in Wonderland,” with Elle Fanning, will direct and write the screenplay. Veteran producer Mark Johnson also is on board.

“We’re obviously very excited to come there, we haven’t shot there before,” Mr. Stepanovich, a native of McKeesport, said by phone. “Our director really responded to the city and what he thought the city could deliver to the look of the film.”

However, when the commonwealth’s film tax credit seemed in doubt, the production also scouted six or seven other locations.

“We were waiting, fingers crossed for a few weeks and some nervous days, but with the governor approving the tax credit, it all worked out so we’re very happy,” said Mr. Stepanovich, senior vice president of physical production. The credit was vital, he said, given the movie’s budget, unspecified but less than a modest $20 million.

Walden, a film production and publishing company best known for family entertainment such as “The Chronicles of Narnia,” aims to have the film ready for possible release by mid-December.

“We are starting prep today, so we’ll start photography seven to nine weeks from now. Daniel’s doing a little bit of a rewrite, so we’re accommodating that part of his schedule, but we hope to be shooting either May 2 or May 9.”

Walden Media has picked up rights to Simon Bloom: The Gravity Keeper, and has hired Adam F. Goldberg to write the script. Adam Goldberg is best known for Fanboys and Aliens in the Attic.  This comes as no surprise to us, as Walden Media is the co-publisher of the book series.

The young adult series by Michael Reisman is about an 11-year old who discovers a hidden magical forest in his New Jersey town. He and a pal happen upon a clearing where the Order of Physics has just met and where Simon is hit in the head by a book. It’s filled with scientific formulas the kids learn to wield like magic spells. Joined by a young girl fascinated by their ability to control gravity and friction, the trio battles a mysterious woman tattooed over with scientific formulas, whose goal is to take over the world.

Walden Media and Paramount’s 2006 live-action version of Charlotte’s Web is getting the high-definition treatment this March, with a release on Blu-ray Disc.  The release date is March 29th.

The movie stars Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, and Oprah Winfrey and was nominated for three Critics’ Choice Awards, winning Best Family Film (Live Action).

Specs have yet to be revealed, but supplements will include: Commentary with Director Gary Winick; Commentary with Producer Jordan Kerner and visual effects supervisor John Andrew Berton Jr.; Making Some Movie; Some Voices; Flacka’s Pig Tales; How Do They Do That?; What Makes a Classic; Where Are They Now?; A Day at the Fair!; Farm Photo Album; Music Videos (Sarah McLachlan, “Ordinary Miracle” and Bob Carlisle and Lucy Kane, “Make a Wish”); Gag Reel; and Additional Scenes.

-via High Def Digest