Amblins Thursday Murder Club Film Lands Director Chris Columbus and Eyes Helen Mirren

Publish date: 2024-07-07

Amblin’s film adaptation of Richard Osman’s novel “The Thursday Murder Club” is finally taking shape, with “Harry Potter” and “Home Alone” filmmaker Chris Columbus set to direct.

Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan and Ben Kingsley are being eyed for three of the four lead roles in the project.

The book, released in 2020, tells the story of four septuagenarian friends who live in a retirement community and solve cold cases for fun. When a shady property developer is found dead, the four find themselves in the middle of their first live crime.

Publishing rights for the book were sold in the biggest debut novel deal for a decade. Amblin Partners scored worldwide rights to the film after a competitive auction that attracted interest from 14 studios.

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It’s been a strong year for Amblin, whose series “Masters of the Air” launched with more viewers in its opening weekend than any Apple TV+ series ever has in its first season, according to the streamer.

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On Tuesday, Osman teased the imminent casting news, writing on X, “Just been on a call with Amblin, and the cast for #TheThursdayMurderClub movie is insanely great, I think people are going to love it. Official announcements very soon, and can’t wait to share it with everyone.”

“The Thursday Murder Club” spawned a successful series from Osman that’s sold over 10 million copies globally, including 2021’s “The Man Who Died Twice,” 2022’s “The Bullet That Missed,” 2023’s “The Last Devil to Die,” and a planned fifth book set to release in 2025. All four books are New York Times bestsellers.

Osman is best known for being the creator and co-presenter of BBC One’s television quiz show “Pointless.” He has also hosted “Two Tribes” and “Richard Osman’s House of Games.”

“Mamma Mia 2” filmmaker Ol Parker was previously attached to direct the project back in 2020.

The news was first reported by The InSneider.

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