Michael B. Jordan (Black Panther, Creed) will star in and serve as producer of Lionsgate’s film adaptation of The Silver Bear from production company Nickel City Pictures and based on the popular book series by Derek Haas (Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma). Haas, a screenwriter in his own right, has made his novel-writing debut with this book, the first in a series that could launch a new thriller franchise for Jordan & Co.
Nickel City optioned the rights to the book franchise last year and engaged Frank Baldwin (The Godmother) to adapt the first book of the series. Vishal Rungta, Mark Fasano, Ankur Rungta of Nickel City Pictures will produce along with Jordan’s Outlier Society Productions banner. Haas, Michael Garnett and Tobias Weymar will serve as executive producers.
The Silver Bear tells the story of Columbus (Jordan) who becomes the most feared and respected hitman in the criminal underworld. Here’s the full synopsis (via Amazon):
Screenwriter Haas’s debut features a darkly compelling narrator. When a young hit man who refers to himself as Columbus learns his next job is to assassinate presidential candidate Abe Mann, Columbus is not taken aback so much by Mann’s national prominence as he is by the key role Mann once played in Columbus’s past. Soon Columbus realizes that those behind the plot appear to be setting somebody else up as well—himself. The suspense builds as Columbus goes about his business, all the while detailing his accomplishments, his acuity, his nerve, his intelligence. Then he does something so unlikely that the reader immediately realizes that whatever the author intended, this is a narrator too unreliable to listen to, much less trust. Still, those looking for a downbeat political fable during the current election season may be satisfied.
“We could not be more excited to work with Michael and Lionsgate. We have been huge fans of Michael all the way back to his days in The Wire, and from our first meeting we knew that he was the perfect fit for the role of Columbus,” said Nickel City Pictures’ Vishal Rungta.
“The Silver Bear is the kind of story that needs to be experienced on the big screen and Michael is the perfect movie star to inhabit the skin of this dynamic character and take us into the cinematic world of Columbus,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Chairman Joe Drake. “We’re incredibly honored that Michael and Nickel City chose Lionsgate to partner with in bringing this exciting property to life.”
Jordan’s upcoming projects include Creed II and Just Mercy, both of which he is also executive producing. Jordan launched Outlier Society, a film and television company, in fall of 2016 with Alana Mayo heading production and development. Their slate of upcoming projects include gen:LOCK, Raising Dion, and David Makes a Man.
via Collider