With Netflix slated to double its slate of original content next year with 31 releases versus 16 in 2015, they likely already know they have some strong competition coming from Amazon. The booksellers are behind Spike Lee‘s current "Chi-Raq," they’ve got Woody Allen making his first TV series for them, and now they’ve bagged one of the hottest tickets of the awards season.
Amazon will finance, produce and distribute "Carol" director Todd Haynes‘ next film, "Wonderstruck." An adaptation of "Hugo" author Brian Selznick‘s award-winning "Wonderstruck," "Safe," "I’m Not There," and "Far From Heaven" star Julianne Moore will reteam with Haynes on the movie. The ambitious story is split in two different time periods — 1927 and 1977 — and follows the interconnected lives of deaf children, Ben and Rose. Here’s the book synopsis:
Ben and Rose secretly wish their lives were different. Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother’s room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.
Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories — Ben’s told in words, Rose’s in pictures — weave back and forth with mesmerizing symmetry. How they unfold and ultimately intertwine will surprise you, challenge you, and leave you breathless with wonder.
Looks like everything has fallen into place; now we are just waiting for an official start date. But that probably won’t be until after Haynes gets through the next couple of months of awards-season parties celebrating "Carol." [The Wrap]
Spike Lee, Terry Gilliam, WOody Allen, Jarmusch and now Todd Haynes, Amazon\’s slate already seems more promising than Netflix\’s myriad of Sandler\’s film.