The feature adaptation of Matt Haig’s 2020 bestselling novel The Midnight Library has found its distributing home, as Paramount Pictures is close to completing deal to acquire the Florence Pugh-led feature for approximately $36 million. Though this deal has yet to close, sources already believe that this will be the biggest to come out of this year’s Cannes film market.
As for the actual deal, Paramount beat out major studios like Focus Features and Sony. The production company will partner with StudioCanal for distribution, with the latter retaining rights in Australia, Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, and South Africa. Paramount and StudioCanal are still discussing rights for territories. The adaptation will be helmed by Garth Davis, who has collaborated with Pugh once before on the upcoming Netflix limited series East of Eden. Davis has directed features such as the 2018 biblical drama Mary Magdalene, which stars Rooney Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, and the 2023 sci-fi thriller Foe, starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal.
Haig’s The Midnight Library focuses on the character of Nora Seed, who will be played by Pugh, as she discovers a mystical library that allows her to explore alternate versions of her life. The script will be adapted by Tony Nominee Nick Payne and Olivier Award winner Laura Wade. StudioCanal’s Anna Marsh, Dan MacRae, and Ron Halpern will executively produce alongside Blueprint’s Ben Knight and Diarmuid McKeown. Pugh is set to produce along with Anita Overland and Blueprint’s Graham Broadbent and Pete Czernin.
Pre-production is set to begin sometime this autumn.
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