Amazon MGM Studios In Talks To Acquire Hot Video Game Package ‘Split Fiction’ Teaming Jon M. Chu & Sydney Sweeney
EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM Studios is finalizing a deal to acquire Split Fiction, a hot feature package based on the video game of the same name, which is set to team Wicked helmer Jon M. Chu and actress Sydney Sweeney, sources tell Deadline.
We’re told the deal is coming in at north of $2 million. We were first to report on bidding for the project a couple of weeks ago, when Sony was among others in the race. Script is by Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese, the duo behind recent Marvel Studios hit Deadpool & Wolverine.
Developed by Hazelight Studios and powered by Unreal Engine, Split Fiction centers on two writers — Mio Hudson and Zoe Foster — who become trapped inside a simulation created by Rader Publishing, a tech company that uses AI to mine authors’ ideas. The pair must work together to escape as they navigate through surreal environments, inspired by their respective genres of sci-fi and fantasy. Sweeney will play one of the two authors, though it’s presently unclear which one it will be.
In addition to Split Fiction, we a couple of weeks ago shared an update on Doug Liman’s undersea supernatural film Deeper, starring Tom Cruise. We reported that Ana de Armas is poised to co-star in the flick, following an astronaut who encounters a terrifying force while on a deep dive into a never-before-explored trench. Originally set up at MGM, when the studio bought a spec from Max Landis, the film has been in development for nearly a decade. We hear McQuarrie is currently involved in penning the script. Originally, Bradley Cooper was to star, with Kornél Mundruczó directing; Idris Elba and filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur teamed on a later iteration that likewise failed to move forward.
Chu is repped by Artists First, UTA, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman; Sweeney by Paradigm and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller. Wernick & Reese are repped by WME and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller.
