In a pre-emptive purchase, 20th Century Studios has muscled in on the rights to Ripped, a short story by Joe Ballarini for an adaptation to be produced by Seven Bucks and 12:01 Films.
Seven Bucks’ Dany Garcia, Dwayne Johnson, and Hiram Garcia, as well as 12:01’s Scott Glassgold are the gym rats, um, producers, on this one.
While Johnson is not currently attached to star in Ripped, there does seem to be a character for which he could go beast mode. The logline concerns an insecure man who, in anticipation of his wedding day, enters a hardcore underground training facility led by a magnetic fitness guru, who commands cult like devotion with the promise of peak performance at any cost.
Ballarini is set to adapt his short story. Separately, the writer has landed a deal with Simon & Schuster/Atria new horror imprint 12:01 Books to expand the short story into a novel.
Melissa Fried and Frankie Chiapperino will oversee the project for Seven Bucks.
Ripped falls under Seven Bucks’ first look deal with The Walt Disney Company. Signed last year, the multi-year pact allows Seven Bucks to collaborate across Disney divisions. Among the projects in the works is the buzzy untitled Hawaii-set crime thriller that has Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Blunt and Johnson attached to star and Martin Scorsese on board to direct. That too saw the project’s writer, Nick Bilton, land a book deal during its development. (Johnson is co-writing the book.)
Glassgold is a maestro in the short story-to-film field, with Ripped being his company’s third project sold and set up this year. The projects have been attracting top talent and include After Shock at Lionsgate with Brandon Sklenar, and Fake Wedding at Amazon MGM Studios with Lili Reinhart. Other high profile 12:01 Films projects include I Bought a Ranch, also at Amazon and with Drew Hancock writing and directing; and The Dwelling at Amazon, with Sinners star Michael B. Jordan.
Ballarini previously adapted his best-selling book A Babysitter’s Guide to Monster Hunting, as a movie for Netflix. Up next for the longtime scribe and author is The Bluff, an action movie starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas and produced by the Russo Bros. via AGBO that Amazon MGM will release later this year.
Ballarini is repped by Verve and attorney Jeff Frankel.
