Walden Media is pleased to announce that Jonny Weston has been cast as Santa Cruz surfing legend Jay Moriarity in the upcoming film Mavericks.
Mavericks is a true story based on Santa Cruz surf phenom, Jay Moriarity, and his quest to ride the mythic Northern California break, known as Mavericks, where winter swells bring in treacherous waves the size of five story buildings. Moriarity trained for more than a year under the tutelage of mentor Frosty Hesson, and in the process the two forged a unique relationship, ultimately transforming both of their lives. Jay’s story remains an inspiration to surfers around the globe, who’ve coined the phrase, “Live like Jay.”
Gerard Butler (300, Machine Gun Preacher) will star alongside Jonny Weston as Frosty Hesson. Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile) will direct and filming begins in early October.
Walden Media has secured the film rights to the highly successful Flat Stanley children’s book series. Created in 1964 and originally written by Jeff Brown, the books have sold millions of copies worldwide.
The Flat Stanley series follows the unique adventures of a two-dimensional person in a three-dimensional world.
John Carls (Rango and Where the Wild Things Are) is attached as producer. The film will be shot live action and filmmakers plan to use visual effects to create Stanley’s one-dimensional appearance.
The popularity of the books led to the creation of “The Flat Stanley Project” started in 1995 by 3rd grade teacher Dale Hubert. The project provides students with the opportunity to connect with other students around the world who have read Flat Stanley. Students create their own paper “Flat Stanleys” and document him in extraordinary places posing with remarkable people. Flat Stanleys have been pictured with the likes of Clint Eastwood, John Stewart, and even President Obama.
Congratulations to Annie Davis, winner of our Juniper Berry Writing Contest!
Juniper Berry author M.P. Kozlowsky selected 13-year-old Annie Davis from Hitchcock, Oklahoma as the winner of our Juniper Berry Writing Contest. In her story, entitled “Batteries,” Leila’s parents have not been acting right lately; they don’t seem to notice her and haven’t been to their jobs in almost a year. When Leila follows them one morning to find out where they go every day, she is shocked at what she discovers.
Kozlowsky calls “Batteries” “a suspenseful and haunting story, one that gripped me immediately” and refers to Annie as “a writer of great potential.” We couldn’t agree more! Read Annie’s story in its entirety:
By: Annie Davis
Mother and Father aren’t quite right, Leila thought as her mother grinned and ruffled her hair a little too hard. Her father walked on out the door without as much as a goodbye.
“I have to go now!” her mother trilled as she swept out the door in a rush. Leila watched through the window as her mother, as in the days before, backed directly into the mailbox and then zoomed forward, barely avoiding the garage. The car, finally missing any large objects, skidded out onto the highway, going at least twenty miles per hour over the speed limit.
Leila sighed and turned away. As she climbed the winding staircase to her room, a tear fell out of her eye. Walking into her room, she opened her journal and wrote down her parent’s latest developments.
Mom grins like a maniac, her pen scribbled, and then completely forgets how to drive. Dad won’t even talk anymore. She stopped and bit the tip of her pen, leaving a small black spot on her lip. She could point to an exact date where this all started.
In her mind, this was a timeline, and it was her duty to fill in all the blanks. Slowly almost reverently, she turned to the very first page. Its date was Friday, June 13, 2010. “A year from tomorrow,” she realized aloud.
She reread her first entry. “I’m not sure what’s wrong,” she said, “but Mom and Dad aren’t acting normal. I’ll keep writing in here and keeping track until things are the same again. I’m sure they will be soon.”
Leila set the book down and laughed dryly. “That didn’t happen.” With a pang, she realized something else. Tomorrow is their anniversary, she thought.
Leila was suddenly overcome by a longing to do something for them, even if it had been almost a year since they had done something for her. She decided to call Charlene, the secretary where her parents worked, and ask her to give to them a bouquet of flowers she would ask the local shop to deliver to the office.
Reaching for the phone, she rolled across the bed. Quickly punching in the numbers to the company, she held the receiver up to her head.
It rang once, then twice. “Hello, you have reached Emery Industries, Charlene speaking. How may I help you?”
“Hey Charlene! It’s Leila! Can I ask you something?” Leila said excitedly.
“Lei? Of course. What is it?” There was a puzzled tone in her voice.
Leila spoke excitedly. “Well, since tomorrow is my parent’s anniversary, I was wondering if I got a bouquet of flowers sent there if you could take it to them.”
There was a long pause. “Your parents?”
“Yeah, my parents. You know, Ashlee and Bradley Fisher, long time employees. Those parents.”
There was another long pause. “Oh, honey, they didn’t tell you?” Charlene said her voice quiet and hesitant. “They haven’t worked here in about a year.” Over the phone, there was a loud rustle of papers. “In fact, a year ago today was the last day they ever came to work here.”
Leila didn’t hear anything as the telephone clattered to the floor. She was oblivious to the faint echoes of hellos coming from the phone.
“One year ago,” she whispered. “One year ago today was the last day they ever went to work at Emery Industries. One year ago today was the last day they ever were…” her voice trailed off. They haven’t been going to work for one year, she thought. Which begged the question; what had they been doing?
“I’m going camping!” Leila shouted a few hours later as she headed out the door. She heard a garbled shout coming from the house, but she kept walking. Her parents hadn’t cared about what she was doing for some time now.
Now she knew her parents hadn’t been going to work, she was going to find out what they had been doing. Instead of heading out into the small woods near her house, she climbed into the rather squashed trunk of the car they took wherever they went each morning. As the sun slowly dipped beneath the horizon, her last thought before drifting into sleep was, maybe, just maybe, by tomorrow I’ll have my real parents back.
Bam! Leila was roughly jolted awake by the practically ritualistic running into the mailbox.
As the car sped away, the pit in her stomach grew larger and larger, while the questions racing through her mind increased as well. What will I find there? What are they doing? What if they’re members of the FBI? What if they’re in a cult?
These queries spun through her head at light speed, and yet they would not stop.Her heart beat faster and faster, until she felt her stomach drop… literally. They were descending into a tunnel!
As her parents got out of the car, Leila slithered into the front seat. When she saw them disappear around a corner, she slipped out and silently closed the door. Tiptoeing to the corner, she peeked with her head around to try to see where they might have gone.
She turned around just in time to see a door closing. Ignoring the fear rising inside her, Leila followed close behind and opened the door. What she saw inside amazed her.
She saw dozens of bodies were hanging on hooks and plugged into walls through ports in their backs. Her parents were dangling from a rack not too far away. “It’s a charging center!”
“You’re a smart one.” Leila jumped as the cold, menacing voice came out of nowhere. A short figure advanced rapidly towards her. He was wearing a black cloak that covered everything except for his eyes. They were icy blue and had an unearthly quality. “You are the first one to come here. I suppose you are wondering what I am doing?”
Leila nodded. “Why, yes, but-“
“Follow me. Then you will understand.” The strange person swept out the door with a rustle of his cloak.
She dumbly followed. What else could she do? As he led her into a small room and flipped on the lights, she gasped in shock. Her mother and father lay on two small cots with intricate systems of wires and tubing sprouting out from them. “What have you done to my mom and dad? Who are the people I’ve been living with for the past year?”
The being paused to consider before answering. “You humans have a quality about you- I really can’t explain it. It’s like an inner energy source. I simply harness that for the use of my machines. As for the people, I simply send out robotic copies of the originals.”
“You’re using people as batteries! Let them go!” Leila shouted.
“Now, now,” he soothed. “They know nothing. They are living in a virtual reality: their own idea of a perfect world.”
“I don’t care! Let them go!” she screamed.
He tilted his head slightly and looked at her closely. “Unfortunately, I have been hit with a rather sentimental streak,” he said, emotionless. “I will give you one of two options. One, you shall take your parents to your home and live life with all the pain and trials it brings. Two, you leave them here to survive in their perfect world, a world without troubles or flaws. It is your choice.”
Leila stopped for a moment, lost deep in thought. Would she want a fake life without pain, or a real life, full of trouble- but also wonder? A thought suddenly occurred to her. “How many people have you replaced?”
“Millions have been taken.” The answer was blunt, but it was powerful.
“And… if you let them go will you just take them back?”
“It is quite possible. I need more and more power for the battle raging on my planet.”
Leila stood motionless for a second. “Let them go. Let them enjoy life to its fullest while they still can. They might as well glimpse life’s joys one last time.”
The thing nodded. “That is a very admirable answer. Unfortunately, it will not be allowed for you to go home with them. You now know classified knowledge that cannot leave this room. You shall now be transported to the room where you shall be prepared to enter your virtual reality and be used as a human energy source.”
He pointed a strange looking weapon at her head, and everything went black.
Birds were singing. Leila could feel the warm sunshine beam down on her face. As she opened her eyes, she saw her house a few feet away. “It’s perfect,” she gasped. As her head turned, she could hardly take in the beauty of it all. Everything was in completely harmony. She ran, laughing into the woods…
“Leila!” her mother called. “Where are you?”
Her father came up and set a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “I don’t think we’re going to find her. She’s gone.”
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.
Film News:
Walden Media has partnered with Universal Pictures to bring the long-held life story of Louis Zamperini to the screen. The film is based on the New York Times best-seller “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption” by Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit. The novel is based on the moving and powerful true story of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini, who survived a plane crash in WWII only to become a prisoner of war in Japan. Surviving by means of his unique resilience, Zamperini’s story is one of almost unbelievable triumph over adversity and a testament to the human spirit. Director Francis Lawrence (I am Legend) will reteam with his Water for Elephants screenwriter Richard LaGravanese to bring Zamperini’s story to the big screen. The film will be produced by Erwin Stoff (Water For Elephants and I am Legend) and Matt Baer.
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Walden Media specializes in entertainment for the whole family. Past award-winning films include: "The Chronicles of Narnia" series, "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "Nim’s Island," "Charlotte’s Web" and the Sundance Audience Prize Winning documentary "Waiting for ‘Superman’"
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