It’s not all “Star Wars” and awards in December. Hollywood is taking a very brief moment to celebrate the movies that haven’t yet been made but that show promise. The annual Black List of the best unproduced screenplays has arrived, and a pretty fascinating script has taken the top spot.
Isaac Adamson‘s “Bubbles” has garnered the most votes from the 250 executives submitting their ballots this year. Named after Michael Jackson’s baby chimp, it tells the life story of the pop star as narrated by the primate, which is a pretty bold concept. Even if this movie never gets made (I can’t imagine the Jackson estate ever signing off), it undoubtedly puts Adamson on the radar. Notably in second place is “Stronger,” the Boston Marathon bombing pic that already has Jake Gyellenhaal slated to star.
Check out the full list below and let us know which you’d like to see get into production.
44
BUBBLES
by Isaac Adamson
A baby chimp is adopted by the pop star Michael Jackson. Narrating his own story, Bubbles the Chimp details his life within The King of Pop’s inner circle through the scandals that later rocked Jackson’s life and eventually led to Bubbles’ release.
40
STRONGER
by John Pollono
The true story of Jeff Bauman, who after losing his legs in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, was an integral part of helping police to locate the suspects.
37
ROCKET*
by Jeffrey Gelber, Ryan Belenzon
Roger “The Rocket” Clemens, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, has 4672 strikeouts, 354 wins and a record 7 Cy Young awards. This is the story of why he is not in the Hall of Fame.
37
THE LIBERTINE
by Ben Kopit
After the Head of the French National Assembly is placed under house arrest for accusations of sexual assault, he must live in a guarded apartment with his estranged wife until the case comes to a close.
34
CRATER
by John J. Griffin
On the moon, five teens take an unauthorized and adventure-filled road trip, just before one of them is to be sent away on a seventy-five year journey to another planet, leaving behind his best friends.
31
MISS SLOANE
by Jonathan “Jonny” Perera
A powerful lobbyist sacrifices her career on Capitol Hill so she can push through an amendment enforcing stricter federal laws regulating guns.
28
TRUE FAN
by John Whittington
After interfering with a foul ball during a Chicago Cubs playoff game, Steve Bartman was tortured and stalked by die-hard Cub fans for potentially costing them their first National League pennant since 1945. Years later, in a new town with a new identity—but depressed, overweight and working a dead end job—Steve meets a woman who gives him a new lease on life and reason to live.
26
PALE BLUE DOT
by Brian C Brown, Elliot DiGuisseppi
Twelve months after returning from a space mission, decorated astronaut Laura Pepper is arrested for the attempted murder of a fellow astronaut.
25
REAGAN
by Mike Rosolio
When Ronald Reagan falls into dementia at the start of his second term, an ambitious intern is tasked with convincing the commander in chief that he is an actor playing the president in a movie.
21
BUMP
by Ori Guendelman, Rob McClelland
After an accidental hit-and-run, a young lawyer’s entire life unravels over the span of one night as he attempts to dispose of a corpse that turns out to be much more than an innocent victim.
21
ELI by David Chirchirillo
Having moved into a “clean house” to treat his auto-immune disorder, eleven year old Eli begins to believe that the house is haunted. Unable to leave, he soon realizes that the house, and the doctor who runs it, are more sinister than they appear.
20
SEPTILLION TO ONE
by Adam Perlman, Graham Sack
While a former FBI agent is working in the fraud unit of the Texas State Lottery investigating a woman who has mysteriously hit the lottery jackpot three times, he falls in love.
20
WHITE BOY RICK
by Logan Miller, Noah Miller
True story of Richard Wershe Jr., the only successful white boy gangster/drug kingpin in an African-American-dominated 1980s Detroit ghetto.
18
BOOMTOWN
by Matt King
A slick corporate investigator with a closely guarded secret discovers a sinister criminal conspiracy in North Dakota oil-boom country.
18
DREAMLAND
by Nicolaas Zwart
With his family’s farm on the precipice of foreclosure, fifteen-year-old Eugene Evans is determined to capture a fugitive bank robber and collect the bounty on her head. Against all odds, he beats out the FBI and the local police to capture her, only to discover that all may not be what it seems.
18
THE FISHERMAN
by Will Dunn
A fisherman sails out of Martha’s Vineyard in search of the shark that killed his fellow sailors while they were stranded in the water for four days after their ship was attacked by a Japanese submarine.
18
THE WATER MAN
by Emma Needell
A young boy tries to save his mother from terminal cancer by seeking out the town’s bogeyman, The Water Man, who is fabled to have conquered death.
17
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD
by David Scarpa
The story of Getty kidnapping crisis encompassing the Red Brigades, the Italian tabloids and the Vatican.
17
BOY
by Mattson Tomlin
A teenage boy is born with special abilities and spends his childhood switching names and cities so as to keep his identity hidden. When he loses control and accidentally kills his father, he and his mother have to go on the run.
17
THE SHAVE
by Thomas White, Miles Hubley
A dirty cop, exonerated in the murder of a high school honor student, visits the boy’s father at his barbershop, and while receiving a straight razor shave, listens to him recount the story of his son’s life.
16
DO NO HARM
by Julia Cox
An ambitious surgeon’s life takes a dangerous turn when she indulges in an affair with a doctor whose god complex challenges her own.
16
HAMMERSPACE
by Mike Van Waes
A terminally ill teenager looking for answers about his missing father finds a key that unlocks an opening to an alternate animated dimension and a new friend who helps him repair his broken family.
16
THE WRETCHED EMILY DERRINGER
by Chris Thomas Devlin
Gleefully terrifying her small town as a serial killer known as “The Misfit Butcher,” 13-year-old Emily Derringer becomes annoyed when a new killer comes to town and residents begin attributing his sloppy murders to the Misfit Butcher. In a macabre coming-of-age story, Emily must deal with her competition while also taking on the other trials and tribulations of junior high school life.
15
PANDEMONIUM, SPLENDIDLY MANAGED
by Brett Conrad
A local Phoenix newscaster at the pinnacle of local celebrity slowly descends into the depths of madness as he sees his world around him start to crumble piece by piece all while trying to become a game show host in Los Angeles.
15
THE VIRGINIAN
by Michael Russell Gunn
Based on the novel by Owen Wister, a young, down-and-out George Washington, desperate to join the British Army, accepts a dangerous mission to conquer a French fort and save the American colonies.
14
CASTLE DRIVE
by Matthew Scott Weiner
Based on real events, the story of the writing of “Fatal Vision,” the 1983 bestselling true-crime classic that chronicles the summer journalist Joe McGinness spent with “Green Beret Killer” Jeffrey McDonald while he was on trial for the brutal murder of his wife and children.
14
CUT AND RUN
by Zoe McCarthy
A female urologist and a retired hooker form an unlikely friendship when they team up to take down a notorious sex trafficker in Miami.
13
MAYDAY 109
by Samuel V. Franco, Evan Kilgore
Based on actual events, a young John F. Kennedy struggles to save the crew of his PT Boat after it is sunk by a Japanese warship during World War II.
13
MORNINGSTAR
by David Birke
The war is over. A bitter and uneasy truce has been reached with an invading alien race, and a new cold war has begun. Fueled by suspicions of an alien spy in their ranks, the United Nations Intelligence Division entrusts their top agent, Martin Webber, with finding the mole.
13
MOVE THAT BODY
by Lucia Aniello, Paul W Downs
Five friends rent a beach house in Miami for a bachelorette weekend and accidentally kill a male stripper.
13
NYAD
by Robert Specland
Based on the true story of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, who in 2013, after 4 failed attempts and at the age of 64, became the first person ever to open-swim from Cuba to Florida (55 hours non-stop) overcoming impossible odds, personal tragedy, and 103 miles of open ocean.
13
QUEEN OF THE AIR
by Cat Vasko
Based on the book “Queen of the Air” written by Dean N. Jensen. The story of famed trapeze artist Lillian Leitzel and her relationship with fellow trapeze artist Alfredo Codona, who were two of the most famous entertainers of the world during their time.
13
SPRING OFFENSIVE
by Matthew McInerney-Lacombe
Dr. Liz Scott, a British epidemiologist with the World Health Organization, fights to contain an outbreak of Ebola in Afghanistan’s war torn Helmand province as the Taliban’s assault on allied forces threatens to turn the localized outbreak into a global catastrophe.
13
THE BURNING WOMAN
by Brad Ingelsby
A reckless, fun-loving young woman confronts the dark side of life after losing her daughter.
12
BLACKFRIARS
by Chris Bremner
Set around the Blackfriars massacre of 1978, the true story of a Boston police officer and a con man-turned-witness, who become unlikely friends hiding out in Bermuda, ultimately perpetrating a con on the Boston DA they’re tasked to serve.
12
CIRCLE OF TREASON
by Anna Waterhouse, Joe Shrapnel
Based on the book “Circle of Treason: A CIA Account of Traitor Aldrich Ames and The Men He Betrayed” written by Sandra Grimes & Jeanne Vertefeuille. When two women in the CIA suspect there is a mole working there, they have to overcome the institution’s hierarchy and chauvinism to bring down the traitor.
12
STAR ONE
by David Coggeshall
Two CIA agents must overcome their opposing worldviews to evade the Soviet and Chinese armies during a dangerous mission to Tibet in 1950. The true story of the first CIA agent ever to die in the line of duty; the “first star” on the CIA Memorial Wall.
12
THE SET UP
by Kari Granlund
Two co-dependent female best friends’ friendship is put through the wringer after a blind date gone awry sends them on a dangerous, all-in-one-night adventure with a drug dealer.
BARE KNUCKLE by Dave Matillo
CHAPPAQUIDDICK by Taylor Allen, Andrew Logan
GREAT FALLS by Andy Friedhof
HUNTING EICHMANN by Matthew Orton
A SPECK IN THE SEA by Jeff Pope
BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS by Dan Kunka
CRIMSON TRAIL by Jeremy Shipp
LABYRINTH by Christian Contreras
OUR WEEK WITH WALLER by Evan Mirzai, Shea Mirzai
SET IT UP by Katie Silberman
UNTITLED SOCIOPATH PROJECT by Topher Rhys-Lawrence
ARES by Geneva Robertson-Dworet
FINAL JOURNEY by Michael Lee Barlin
MILITIA by Henry Dunham
SALEM by Mark Bianculli, Jeff Richard
TOMORROW ON THE RUNWAY by Frederick Seton
TREASURE ISLAND by James Coyne
UNTITLED LARRY HILLBLOM PROJECT by Matt Portenoy
A LIFE FANTASTIC by Natalie Antoci
AN AFRICAN WESTERN by Chloe Castellon, Ridgeway Wilson
ATLANTIC WALL by Zach Dean
BED REST by Lori Evans Taylor
I BELIEVE IN AMERICA by Terry Clyne
IDA TARBELL by Mark McDevitt
LOU by Maggie McGowan Cohn
PRECONCEPTION by Jake Morse, Scott Wolman
SENIOR YEAR by Andrew Knauer, Arthur Pielli
VERONA by Neil Widener, Gavin James
105 AND RISING by Andrew Cypiot
FREE AGENT by Sam Regnier
HOMEGROWN by Jacques Edeline
THE BOY by Owen Egerton
CARNIVAL by Matias Caruso
CROOK COUNTY by Gita Pullapilly, Aron Gaudet
DAMSEL by Bryan McMullin
FRANCIS AND THE GODFATHER by Andrew Farotte
GREEN RIVER KILLER by Michael Sheen
LANDSLIDE by Will Staples, Tony Camerino
RESURFACE by Pete Bridges
SONGS OF TREBLINKA by Viorica Blan
THE CANYON by Alex Koplow
THREE MONTHS by Jared Frieder
WISH UPON by Barbara Marshall