Fox 2000 is developing the World War II action movie “Liberty Road,” based on one of the 1944 battle at Bastogne in Belgium, Variety has learned exclusively.
Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger of Automatik Entertainment are attached to produce with Chernin Entertainment. Matt Charman, who received an Academy Award nomination for his “Bridge of Spies” screenplay, is also attached to produce and oversee the writers, Gavin James and Neil Widener.
The studio has acquired movie rights to George Koskimaki’s book “The Battered Bastards of Bastogne,” about the contributions of the 530 soldiers who were on the ground or in the air over Bastogne. The attack was part of a surprise Nazi offensive with more than 400,000 soldiers that launched in mid-December of 1944, in which the Allied troops were caught off guard by what turned out to be the final major Nazi offensive of the war. After heavy casualties on both sides, the Nazis withdrew in early January.
Warner Bros. released “Battle of the Bulge,” starring Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, and Charles Bronson in 1965. The movie re-created the Nazis making the Allies an offer to surrender Bastogne or face annihilation.
Windener and James’ script “The Battle of Alcatraz” landed on the 2016 Black List, with Charman attached to produce through Automatic.
Fox-based Chernin was a producer on “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and “Hidden Figures.” It’s also producing several upcoming high-profile Fox titles, including the Amy Schumer-Goldie Hawn action-comedy “Snatched,” “War for Planet of the Apes,” Idris Elba’s romance-adventure “The Mountain Between Us,” and Hugh Jackman’s P.T. Barnum biopic “The Greatest Showman.”
