‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Helmer Joseph Kosinski To Direct ‘Chariot,’ Graphic Novel Adaptation Won By Warner Bros; Julian Meiojas Scripting, 21 Laps Producing
Mike Fleming Jr - July 12, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Brothers won an auction for Chariot, a feature pitch package that has Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski directing an adaptation of the graphic novel that was recently published by Artists, Writers, and Artisans (AWA).
The film will be scripted by Julian Meiojas, whose recent credits include Jack Ryan and The Flash. 21 Laps’ Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen are producing with Kosinski. AWA’s Zack Studin is the exec producer and the project is the first for recently formed AWA Studios, the film and TV arm of the graphic fiction publisher.
Chariot is based on the graphic novel written by comic book creator and screenwriter Bryan Edward Hill (American Carnage / Bitter Root), drawn by Priscilla Petraites (Rat Queens) and edited by AWA Chief Creative Officer Axel Alonso. Pic was sold as a synthwave sci-fi thriller with strong roles for two A-list actors. The Chariot was a Cold War-era secret government project to provide its star agent with a weapon unlike any other in the form of a state-of-the-art sports car. It sank into the ocean decades ago, the agent along with it. A petty criminal looking to reform his life has stumbled upon the Chariot, and he’s about to find out that the agent’s consciousness is still controlling it.
The Kosinski-directed Top Gun: Maverick re-teams the director with Oblivion star Tom Cruise, and Paramount releases that film November 19. Kosinski is in post production on Escape From Spiderhead, the Netflix film, which stars Chris Hemsworth, Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollet.
Rebecca Cho will oversee for Warner Brothers. Kosinski is repped by CAA.
Most recently co-EP on the HBO Max Ridley Scott series Raised by Wolves, Meiojas is adapting his novella DNA for Amazon and Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films. Meiojas is repped by CAA and Grandview.
Levy’s 21 Laps has the fourth season of Stranger Things upcoming at Netflix, and directed the Ryan Reynolds-starrer Free Guy set for release by Disney August 13. Levy also wrapped The Adam Project.