After their great success last year writing both Star Trek and Transformers 2, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have been on a mission to take over Hollywood, not just signing up to write the likes of Cowboys & Aliens, but also positioning themselves to produce a whole slew of projects, ranging from Matt Helm and Atlantis Rising to Xombie and The 28th Amendment. Now they’ve got a new one to oversee, as they’re attached to produce a spec script by Boaz Yakin, called Now You See Me, which Variety reports has just sold to Summit.
As you might have guessed from the title, it’s a bit of a cat and mouse tale, with a crack FBI squad trying to bring a group of master illusionists to justice. The criminals pull off daring bank heists during their performances and give the proceeds to their audience. Yakin is a bit of a high-concept veteran, having recently written Prince Of Persia. He’ll also shortly making his directing debut with the Jason Statham movie, Safe.
There’s also been another big sale of a heist script, with THR saying that Dreamworks have picked up a pitch from John Hlavin, best known as one of the writers on The Shield. Little is known about the film, other than it’s described as an internationally set heist movie.