20th Century Fox has joined forces with Tony-winning producer Kevin McCollum, film producer John Davis and Crossroads Media's Tom McGrath to turn some of the studio's most popular films into staged productions that are fit for the country's capital of theater - Broadway.
According to The L.A. Times the group will spend the next four years digging through Fox's properties and titles to develop at least nine musicals based on studio films. This includes popular titles like "X Men," "Avatar" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" just to name a few.
"For years we have been eager to expand our entertainment expertise to the world of live stage, but we wanted to do it right and most importantly, with the right people," 20th Century Fox Chairman and chief executive Jim Gianopulos said in a statement. "We have been fortunate to have found great partners in Kevin, John and Tom to help to transform great Fox properties into exciting live stage entertainment for audiences everywhere."
In addition to the powerhouse foursome, Isaac Robert Hurwitz, executive director and producer of "The New York Musical Theatre Festival" will be consulting on the projects. Fox, McCollum, Davis and McGrath aim to be hands-on with not only cultivating new film properties but they'll stay involved in readings and workshops of the material as it develops.
"The early development phase is both an exciting and vulnerable time in the life of a musical," McCollum said. "This new joint venture provides a much needed foundation to the creative process for myself, my partners, and the artists who will develop these shows. We are eager to get to work mining the stage theatrical possibilities of the Fox film library."
There's no word yet on what potential properties the group will be looking at to transform into a musical but with the success of Hollywood to Broadway adaptations like "Matilda," "Bring it On" and "Spiderman" it appears as if Fox is dipping its toe in a potentially lucrative venture.
What do you think? Any 20th Century titles that you'd like to see made into a showy Broadway musical?