Hugh Jackman is attached to play Long John Silver in Ridley Scott's new film adaptation of Treasure Island, a package that is set to hit the market Monday. The project pairs Scott with screenwriter Jack Thorne and is being assembled for Scott Free, putting one of literature’s most recognizable pirates back in play for the studios.
The move matters now because insiders expect every major studio to be in the mix when the package goes out. For Jackman, it gives him a role that has followed the book through decades of screen versions; for the market, it puts a high-profile director, a marquee star and a familiar title in the same shopping window.
Treasure Island was first published in 1883, and the Robert Louis Stevenson novel has since sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into over 50 languages. Its story follows a young boy who finds a map to buried treasure and crosses paths with Long John Silver, a part that Jackman would now take on in live action.
The project has also already run into studio politics. 20th Century had a first look at it, but passed because the company is part of Disney and Disney's live-action unit already has Pirates of the Caribbean as a priority. The decision was not about interest in the material so much as avoiding a competing pirates movie inside the same corporate house.
That friction is what makes the Monday market launch worth watching. A Treasure Island adaptation with Scott directing, Jackman attached and Thorne scripting is the kind of package that can move quickly, but the studio that ultimately buys it will have to decide whether another pirate story fits its slate now, especially with Disney already committed elsewhere.
