Ludlum Bonanza - Jason Bourne, David Cronenberg and The Parsifal Mosaic

[GreenScar]

For all you Ludlum fans:

It’s been a busy time for Robert Ludlum watchers these last few days. Not one, not two, not three, not four but five upcoming films to be based, one way or another, on his books have had some fresh light shed upon them. (John Grisham watchers should just pack up their tents; Tom Clancy watchers will probably see some action before long)

Film one. Michael Brandt and Derek Haas have scripted an adaptation of The Matarese Circle. Tom Cruise and Denzel Washington have been tapped to star and David Cronenberg is lining up a nice long sit in the canvas seat. We knew about Michael, Derek, David and Denzel, but the fresh addition of the smiling one seems to suggest big progress is being made. Variety tell us that the sequel novel The Matarese Countdown was snapped up in the same rights swoop - let’s skip to the end and call that film five.

Film two. Captivate Entertainment are a freshly structured organization designed to handle all big screen deals for Ludlum books and they’ve established a general deal with Universal. According to Variety, the studio have now started to make a move on the rights to The Parsifal Mosaic and seem set to put it on the inside lane to the box office. Interesting news this, in a way that leads us to film three…

Film three is the 4th Bourne Film. Late last year, Frank Marshall told Coming Soon that the next Bourne would be derived from The Parsifal Mosaic. Obviously, that’s not the plan any longer and the next Bourne, as per the Variety link back up there, is now being developed from an original idea.

Film four is The Sigma Protocol. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway were given the writing gig last year (ahead of their tenure on the Highlander remake train), and that same Variety link (zzzzz) lets us know that work continues apace.

And that’s your lot. There are, however, over 20 more Robert Ludlum works to be optioned so, by all signs, we’ll be reading that name an awful lot more in the coming months and years.