20th Century Fox is finally getting into the Broadway game, expressing interest in bringing some of its properties to the Great White Way. The final studio has enlisted the help of a major Broadway producer to get started.
Fox, which is the only Hollywood studio without a musical theater division, will work with Rent producer Kevin McCollum to develop nine to 12 musicals based on Fox properties, notes The New York Times. Fox, film producer John Davis, entertainment executive Tom McGrath and McCollum announced the joint venture on Thursday, but didn’t reveal which specific property they would start with.
But Fox has a huge library of over 4,500 titles, going back to the heyday of Old Hollywood to today. As The Los Angeles Times notes, titles like X-Men, Avatar and Planet of the Apes could become musicals. Animated hits like Ice Age could also be the basis of a musical.
“Theater is about surprises and things that you haven’t seen before on stage,” McCollum told the NY Times. “There are amazing Fox Searchlight titles and great films from the ’70s that nobody today has heard of...Most important is not forcing anything. A big, popular movie doesn’t always lend itself to a live experience.”
Fox chief executive Jim Gianopulos added in a statement, “We have been fortunate to have found great partners in Kevin, John and Tom to help to transform great Fox properties into exciting live stage entertainment for audiences everywhere.”
The New York Musical Theatre Festival’s Isaac Robert Hurwitz has also been recruited to assist the studio.
Disney, Warner Bros., MGM, Sony and Universal have all tried musicals to varying degrees of success. Disney has had the best success, since its animated films like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast are already musicals with familiar songs.
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