Flight Delay

Now that Tom Cruise and longtime business partner Paula Wagner have settled in, as co-presidents of United Artists, the pair is gearing up a second film for development. And while it re-teams a talented industry duo--It's production means the delay of a superhero sequel.

Michael Fleming of Variety:

United Artists toppers Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner have greenlit their second film, an original thriller that Bryan Singer will direct as his next feature.

The untitled film re-teams Singer with "The Usual Suspects" screenwriter Chris McQuarrie.

Singer and McQuarrie will produce. The drama is the duo's first original collaboration since "The Usual Suspects."

Set in WWII, the project is similar to "Suspects" in that it is a multi-character ensemble piece.

Singer and McQuarrie took the project directly to Wagner and Cruise, who agreed to finance it almost immediately.

The film will delay Warner Bros.' hope of mounting a sequel to "Superman Returns" in the near future. Singer's Bad Hat Harry banner has an overall deal at WB, where he is developing several films that include that sequel and the Harvey Milk biopic "The Mayor of Castro Street." He also is directing "Football Wives," a series pilot for ABC and ABC TV Studio. The new project begins production this summer.

No Need To Rush On That Superman Returns Sequel

Cruise and Wagner resuscitated the UA label in November. They are in production on the Robert Redford-directed drama "Lions for Lambs," which stars Redford, Cruise and Meryl Streep. The film will be released Nov. 9 by MGM.

"Bryan is one of the great filmmakers working today and Chris is an exceptional writer, and for Tom and me, this was an exciting opportunity for our second picture," Wagner said.

Compared with recent tentpoles "Superman Returns" and the first two "X-Men" pics, Singer's latest project carries a moderate pricetag.

"This was something Chris showed me late last year, and we worked on it quietly during the holidays," Singer told Daily Variety. "We brought it to UA and it was nice one-stop shopping. We decided it was the right place to make this movie, as opposed to shopping it around. It's a period in history that has always fascinated me, and we found a very interesting story that materialized into a pretty wonderful script." ...

After taking on the effects heavy Superman Returns, X-Men, and X2, one right after another, I can see why Singer would want to take on as many non-genre flicks as possible, before he gets going on the next one. Sure, the move means a delay for 2009's Superman: The Man of Steel, but I actually think this may turn out to be a silver lining.

It means that writers Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris can make sure that the script for MOS is the best it can be...

As for Christopher McQuarrie, his script for The Usual Suspects was really great...And after 12 years, it's time for Singer and McQuarrie to work together again, it's long overdue.