Idris Elba will star in the survival thriller “Beast” for Universal Pictures with Baltasar Kormakur directing and producing.
Universal is keeping the story line under wraps. “Rampage” writer Ryan Engle wrote the script, based on an idea from Jaime Primak-Sullivan.
Will Packer and James Lopez will also produce through their Will Packer Productions. Kormakur will produce through his RVK Studios. Primak-Sullivan will executive produce. Packer, Lopez, Primak-Sullivan and Engle worked together on the 2018 thriller “Breaking In.”
Universal’s executive vice president of production Matt Reilly and creative executive Tony Ducret will oversee the project on behalf of the studio.
Elba starred in “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw” for Universal. His “Concrete Cowboy,” in which he portrays a modern-day cowboy in Philadelphia, premiered several weeks ago at the Toronto Intl. Film Festival. He’ll star as Bloodsport in James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” for DC Entertainment and is attached to the Netflix western “The Harder They Fall” along with Jonathan Majors, Regina King, Zazie Beetz, Lakeith Stanfield, Edi Gathegi, Danielle Deadwyler and RJ Cyler.
Kormakur, a native of Iceland, is best known for making a pair of survival thrillers — 2015’s “Everest,” which recounted the deadly 1996 climbing expeditions that left 11 dead, and the Shailene Woodley-Sam Claflin drama “Adrift.”
Packer has produced 10 films that opened in first place at the North American box office, including “Girls Trip” and “Night School,” which were the top-grossing comedies of 2017 and 2018, respectively. His most recent film, “The Photograph,” debuted this February and took in $20 million before theaters were shuttered in mid-March due to the pandemic. Other Packer films include “What Men Want,” “Ride Along 2,” “No Good Deed,” “Think Like a Man Too,” “Ride Along,” “Think Like a Man,” “Takers,” “Obsessed,” “Breaking In” and “Stomp the Yard.”
Elba is represented by WME, The Artists Partnership, WME, M88 and Ziffren Brittenham LLP. Kormakur is represented by WME, Range and Nelson Davis LLP. The news was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.