Entertainment acquires Hugo Cabret, Dredd and Freddie Mercury biopic

Hugo Cabret, set in 1930s Paris, is the story of an orphan who becomes caught up in a mysterious adventure after befriending an eccentric girl and a toyshop owner.
 
Sony is distributing the lavish $120m+ production in the US, with a release set for Dec 2010. It is currently shooting in the UK.
 
Cabret stars Chloe Moretz, Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer and Ray Winstone.
 
John Logan (The Aviator, Gladiator) has written the script from Brian Selznick’s novel; Graham King and Tim Headington of GK Films are producing with Johnny Depp.

Peter Morgan has written the screenplay for the Mercury film which will star Sacha Baron Cohen as the Queen frontman. GK Films (Graham King, Tim Headington) is producing with Tribeca Productions (Jane Rosenthal) and Queen Films (Queen manager Jim Beach). No director is yet attached.

Entertainment has a long relationship with Graham King which includes forthcoming release The Rum Diary starring Johnny Depp and London Boulevard with Keira Knightley and Colin Farrell as well as past hits like Gangs Of New York, The Departed, Traffic and Ali.
 
Action-sci-fi Dredd, the second major adaptation of the popular comic series, is directed by Pete Travis (Endgame) and stars Karl Urban as the infamous lawman Judge Dredd.
 
Alex Garland has scripted the project funded by Reliance Big Pictures, IM Global and DNA. Dredd is currently in pre-production and is set to shoot in South Africa later in the year.

Entertainment has also taken UK rights to Christian The Lion, which Sony will release in the US. Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft are writing the screenplay for the film based on the true story of two young men in London in the 1960s who buy a lion cub at Harrods.

Entertainment unveiled their slate at last week’s inaugural Screen UK Marketng & Distribution Awards, at which Entertainment co-chiefs Nigel and Trevor Green received the Lifetime Achievement Award.