Wicked producer Marc Platt previewed this year’s Wicked: For Good while speaking about his Producer’s Guild Award-nominated first film on Saturday morning. At the PGA’s annual breakfast panel for nominees for Theatrical Motion Picture, Platt, who also produced the Broadway show, said he…

Update: Wicked filmmaker Jon M. Chu’s daughter arrived late on Saturday night while the L.A. premiere to his latest Universal feature musical was rocking on at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The director shared a photo of his newly arrived daughter on social. “I can’t believe this happened…

A Broadway musical take of the six-time Oscar-winning, $472 million worldwide-grossing movie La La Land is in development, Emmy- and Tony-winning producer Marc Platt said Tuesday. The show, based on the Damien Chazelle-directed movie, will be helmed by Tony and Drama Desk-winning director…

EXCLUSIVE: Watchmen director Nicole Kassell has been set to direct New Line's feature adaptation of L. Frank Baum's beloved American children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Temple Hill partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey are producing with Marc Platt. Isaac Klausner will be executive producer. Kassell won a…

UPDATED: I’ve learned that A24 will team on the Ronnie Spector film with New Regency. The two partnered previously on the Robert Eggers-directed The Lighthouse, and they are part of the Malcolm & Marie film. EXCLUSIVE: A24 is putting together a film package that will have Emmy-winning Euphoria star Zendaya…

Amandla Stenberg has joined the cast of Universal Pictures' Dear Evan Hansen, based on the original stage musical play with music and lyrics by Academy Award-winning duo Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Stenberg will play Alana, a high school senior whose cheery façade and social-media savvy mask a deeper loneliness…

Universal, Elizabeth Banks’ Brownstone Productions and Marc Platt are developing a feature live-action hybrid movie about Scholastic's The Magic School Bus.  Joanna Cole wrote the books with Bruce Degen as illustrator. The science-centered series features the intrepid Ms. Frizzle and her class, who set out on…

EXCLUSIVE: Hot on the heels of starring in Booksmart and the series Unbelievable, Kaitlyn Dever is in talks for the female lead in the movie musical adaptation of Dear Evan Hansen. Ben Platt is expected to reprise his stage role as the title character in the film, with Stephen Chbosky (Wonder) directing. Music…

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Guerrilla) has signed on to write, direct and executive produce an untitled musical drama for Showtime, which has received a straight-to-series order. On the project, originally announced in July with a series commitment, he joins executive producers Alicia…

Film and theater Producer Marc Platt and wife Julie have made a $1 million gift to MCC Theater, one of Off Broadway’s leading not-for-profit companies, for the development and production of new musicals, MCC announced today. Named for Marc Platt’s late, theater-loving uncle, The Gary Platt Musical Initiative will…

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: I can add that Brad Pitt also is circling Babylon, the early-Hollywood period drama that is likely to reteam La La Land filmmaker Damien Chazelle with Emma Stone. Sources confirm that Pitt also is in the mix, though neither he nor Stone has made a commitment. I’ve also heard that Babylon is a…

EXCLUSIVE: I, Tonya‘s Craig Gillespie is in talks at Disney to direct the live-action Cruella, with Emma Stone playing the woman who covets the furs of the 101 Dalmation pups needed to give her the perfect coat, sources said. Alex Timbers, the acclaimed Broadway director-writer and co-creator of Amazon's Mozart in…