‘Maze Runner’ Director Wes Ball To Helm ‘The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August’ For Amblin
Maze RunnerdirectorWes Ballhas landed a new sci-fi film. Ball is set to direct the feature film adaptation of the sci-fi Claire North novelThe First Fifteen Lives of Harry Augustfor Amblin Partners, his first feature film project since 2018’sMaze Runner: Death Cureand since 20th Century Fox’sMouse Guardadaptation fell through.
Deadline reports that Wes Ball is set to directThe First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, a sci-fi story about a man “who is repeatedly born into the same life, remembers all his past experiences, and seeks to save the world by outmaneuvering a similarly gifted rival who’s willing to make any sacrifice to attain a godlike knowledge.”
The film is based on the sci-fi novel byClaire North, which won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.Melissa Iqbal(Humans, The Nevers) is adapting the novel for the big screen.
Ball has found great success directing all threeMaze Runnerfilms, which grossed almost $949 million worldwide. The YA dystopian franchise put Ball on the map, and he was soon courted by Disney and 20th Century Studios to reboot thePlanet of the Apesfranchise. However, his passion project, a $170 million animated feature film adaptation of the beloved comic book seriesMouse Guard, fell through in the wake of the Disney-Fox merger. But it seems WME, which recently signed Ball to their Oddball Entertainment label, is still working to get the filmmaker jobs — they’re also coordinating the early stages of Ball’sPlanet of the Apesreboot.
Ball has a lot of potential as a sci-fi blockbuster director (theMaze Runnermovies are solid dystopian flicks) and theGroundhog Day-esque plot ofThe First Fifteen Lives of Harry Augustsounds intriguing. Amblin’s involvement is also promising — the company recently earned awards and box office success with Sam Mendes' Oscar-nominated1917.
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry Augustis being produced by Oscar nominees Pete Czernin and Graham Broadbent (Emma, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) of Blueprint Pictures, which originally optioned and developed the project, and Joe Hartwick Jr (Jumper, The Maze Runner) of Oddball Entertainment.
