WB and Focus International to Distribute 'Cloud Atlas,' Starring Tom Hanks

Warner Bros. and Focus Features International are set to distribute Cloud Atlas, which has Tom Hanks attached to star. Based on David Mitchell's best-selling 2004 novel, the project is being co-written and co-directed by Matrix filmmakers Andy and Lana Wachowski and Run Lola Run writer-director Tom Tykwer.

Grant Hill and Stefan Arndt are producing the film with the Wachowskis under their new Five Drops label. Philip Lee will serve as executive producer.

Warner Bros. will distribute the film in North America, and Focus Int'l will handle foreign sales at Cannes and distribution on behalf of Anarchos Pictures and X Filme. The filmmakers plan to start filming in September.

Mitchell's book follows six storylines that include a 19th century American notary, a poor British musician in the 1930s, a journalist in 1970s California, a vanity press publisher in the early 21st century, a rebellious clone in the near future and a primitive Hawaiian tribesman surviving after the apocalypse.