Bomb | Ridley Scott

[Cremildo]

In what might be the last big one in a flurry of pre-holiday material auctions, 20th Studios has bought the Kevin McMullin short story BOMB, an action thriller with franchise potential and a killer role for a young actor. Ridley Scott has attached to direct, with his Scott Free producing. McMullin will write the script.

This was a very competitive landscape with ten bidders, including Apple, Netflix, Sony and Warner Brothers. Deal closed at low seven figures for the short story and the writing deal. Ultimately 20th prevailed when Scott attached to direct, and due to Scott Free’s relationship with McMullin.

Scott Free’s Ridley Scott and Michael Pruss are producing. Scott is coming off the hit Napoleon and is currently at work finishing Gladiator 2. This would come a ways down the line, since it has to be scripted and developed.

Short story is a template for an action/thriller in the vein of Dog Day Afternoon and Speed. Frankie Ippolito is a hostage negotiator called into duty the night before his wedding in London. A man who has parked himself in a construction site in Piccadilly Circus is standing on a newly uncovered, unexploded bomb from WWII. He tells local law enforcement he will only speak with Frankie and this sets off a chain of events, where Frankie is drawn into an overnight struggle to stop the bomber with whom he has a past. +