We heard back in November 2009 that Inferno Entertainment was planning a 3D re imagining of Arabian Nights, the collection of Eastern folk tales that has previously been adapted for literature, movies, TV, radio, music, video games and also comic books (as in the image below).
At Cannes, the distributor FilmDistrict acquired the US rights to the film, which will be directed by Chuck Russell (The Mask, The Scorpion King) with Liam Hemsworth, brother of Thor star Chris Hemsworth, in the lead role. Russell also co-wrote the screenplay with Barry Ambrose.
It was announced last May that Anthony Hopkins was playing villainous sorcerer Pharotu.
The synopsis of the project is as follows: Arabian Nights is a visually stunning 3-D retelling of the classic adventure tale about a bold, young commander (Hemsworth) who joins forces with Sinbad, Aladdin and his Genie to rescue Scheherazade and save her Kingdom from the dark powers of an immortal Sorcerer. The film weaves together several beloved tales and characters into a wild magic carpet ride for all ages.
The full press release on the project is over at the Coventry Telegraph, who also report that time travel film Looper and Angelina Jolie’s Bosnian War love story were also picked up by the same distributor at the film festival.