'Jersey Boys' Moves to Warner Bros. as Producer Graham King Inks Short One-Year Deal

Graham King and his GK Films shingle have signed a first-look deal with Warner Bros, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. One of the projects that is being set up at the studio is the long-gestating big-screen adaptation of Jersey Boys with Jon Favreau (Iron Man) attached to direct.
 
Unlike most first-look deals, however, this one is notably for only one year — a short amount of time to set up projects. Insiders say the studio's main motivation in making the deal was to acquire Jersey Boys. Warners aggressively pursued the musical in 2010 but was beat out by Columbia. When a split developed between King and Columbia, who had a four-picture pact, sources say Warners lured the project away via a short-term deal with GK.

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King has an undeniably strong relationships with talent but his GK Films is said to have lost millions on Hugo, the Martin Scorsese-directed adaptation that Paramount released last year. The financial hit on that film to King and financial partner Tim Headington was coupled with poor showings for such dramas as Johnny Depp's The Rum Diary and Angelina Jolie's In the Land of Blood and Honey.

King, however, was a producer on Warners’ The Town and is exec producing Argo, the Ben Affleck-directed movie that is shaping up to be a major awards contender.  He also was a producer on the studio's Oscar-winning crime drama The Departed.