DreamWorks Planning Movie About A Cappella Group Straight No Chaser (Exclusive)

The story of a cappella group Straight No Chaser is heading to the big screen.

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DreamWorks has picked up a pitch named after the group, with Jack Amiel and Michael Begler attached to write and Michael Sucsy, who most recently directed The Vow, attached to helm.

Anonymous Content's Michael Sugar and Bard Dorros are producing along with Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman.

Ten Indiana University students, led by founder Dan Ponce, formed SNC in 1996, long before the Glee-driven craze for high school choral groups. The group played venues such as Wrigley Field and Carnegie Hall, but the members disbanded three years later (though the group continued on the university level with new singers).

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In 2006, a video of Straight No Chaser performing 12 Days of Christmas in 1998 was uploaded by original member Randy Stine to YouTube and went viral. (It has now ratcheted up more than 16 million views.) Kallman saw the video and called Stine, and before you could say "partridge in a pear tree," the group had not only gotten back together, but also signed a five-album deal. SNC's three most recent albums made the Top 50 of the Billboard 200.

The movie idea germinated when Sugar met with Kallman, who told him the story. The Anonymous men liked the idea of having a second chance to live out your dreams and thought the story could make for an inspirational movie.

Anonymous, which is producing the currently shooting WikiLeaks movie The Fifth Estate for DreamWorks, brought the package to the company last week, which preemptively took it off the table. 

Amiel and Berger wrote Big Miracle, the Drew Barrymore whale drama released by Universal in 2012 and also co-produced by Anonymous. Other credits include The Shaggy Dog and Raising Helen. The duo is repped by WME and Anonymous.

Sucsy broke through when he co-wrote and directed HBO’s acclaimed Grey Gardens, which won six Emmys and two Golden Globes. Vow, which starred Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum, grossed $125 million domestically last year. He is repped by CAA, Anonymous and Bloom Hergott.

Email: Borys.Kit@thr.com

Twitter: @Borys_Kit