On Eve Of ‘Identity Thief,’ Jason Bateman Sets ‘Game Night’ Pitch At New Line
EXCLUSIVE: Jason Bateman and Jim Garavente’s Aggregrate Films and Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and John Fox have joined to produce Game Night, a comedy that was acquired by New Line Cinema from a pitch by Mark Perez. The plan is for Bateman to star in an ensemble comedy about a group of couples caught up in a very real game night. They get together regularly to play games together but on this night, things get real and it becomes a murder mystery.
New Line’s Richard Brener and Michael Disco shepherded the sale of what I’m told is a comedy in the Horrible Bosses vein. Formed last February with a two-year first look partnership at Universal Pictures and Universal TV, Aggregate has gotten a lot going in a short time. That includes Identity Thief, which stars Bateman and Melissa McCarthy and opens Friday (Bateman produced it with Scott Stuber and Pam Abdy), followed by Bad Words, a comedy Bateman just wrapped as star, producer and first-time director. On the TV side, Aggregate has teamed with executive producer DJ Nash for Then Came Elvis, a single-camera comedy pilot sold to NBC, which was just green lit.
Perez’s scripts include Walt Disney’s The Country Bears and Universal’s Accepted and he sold his last two to Sony and Happy Madison, with both in active development.
Bateman and Perez are repped by CAA and Perez by Brian Lutz Management.
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