TREASURE OF ALI BABA & THE FORTY THIEVES Sets Martin Campbell To Helm ‘Arabian Nights’ Folklore Adaptation
Just days from TIFF, word now has Casino Royale helmer Martin Campbell on deck to direct adventure pic, Treasure of Ali Baba & The 40 Thieves. Ehud Bleiberg and Danny Dimbort will handle international sales on the project as well as produce with Nicholas Donnermeyer and Campbell cohort Robert K. MacLean.
Writer Dave Holstein wrote the script following an earlier screenplay by Bleiberg and co-scribe Mansur Ahmed with source material rooted in the sprawling collection of Arabian Nights tales of Middle Eastern folklore. Marc Bikindou and Tiffany Boyle are executive producing the film which currently stands as the second grouping for Campbell & MacLean along with Dimbort and Bleiberg following Ernest Hemingway novel adaptation, Across The River and Into The Trees.
via Deadline:
An adventure novelist gets caught up in a global conspiracy and a hunt for a mysterious antiquity after discovering that his father had a map to the legendary treasure of Ali Baba. He must team up with a brilliant cartographer to locate the artifacts before they fall into the hands of the 40 Thieves—an ancient group who has quietly become a powerful, international syndicate of criminals in high-ranking corporate positions.
Said Campbell of Ali Baba: “This is a great opportunity to do something with international appeal and huge franchise potential. I want this to be my Indiana Jones.”.
Campbell’s latest, The Foreigner, opens theatrically in China later this month before its U.S. bow courtesy of STX on October 13.
