Chris Columbus‘ 1492 Pictures and Ocean Blue Entertainment have acquired “12/24,” Matt Lieberman’s spec script about two brothers who try to prove Santa Claus is real using a home video camera.
The two brothers end up joinging St. Nick on his Christmas Eve sleigh ride, but cause his sleigh to crash and must save Christmas. Lieberman, who last wrote "Short Circuit" for Dimension and also wrote "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" for Disney, based his script on an idea from “Safe House” writer David Guggenheim.
Guggenheim will produce with Madhouse Entertainment and 1492’s Columbus, Michael Barnathan and Mark Radcliffe. The writer has been busy since "Safe House" became a surprise hit at the box office in 2012, penning "Puzzle Palace" for Summit, selling "Black Box" to Universal and working on a sequel to "Safe House."
Also read: Universal, David Guggenheim at Work on New 'Safe House' Film
1492 and Ocean Blue will finance and produce the film under a long-term partnership they recently entered. 1492 last made "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters" and is developing several different proejcts, incluing "Calico Joe," an adaptation of the John Grisham novel.
Columbus, 1492 and Lieberman are all repped by WME while Paradigm represents Guggenheim. Madhouse represents both Lieberman and Guggenheim.