Jennifer Lopez is partnering with producer David Ellison and his production company Skydance to develop musicals for both the small and big screen.
“Let’s do this!” Lopez wrote on Twitter Monday afternoon.
The musicals will come from the Concord library, which includes licenses for Broadway musicals such as A Chorus Line, Hello Dolly, Bye Bye Birdie, and Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. Lopez has the option of starring in at least one of the films or TV series.
“Musicals were a part of the tapestry of my childhood,” Lopez told The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re so excited to begin our association with Skydance and Concord in reinterpreting some of the most classic musicals and bringing them to life in new ways for a new generation.”
Skydance TV president Bill Bost says the company is “thrilled to expand [its] relationship with Concord” and to work with Lopez on the new musical productions. “Jennifer Lopez is an international icon in every sense of the word,” Bost says. “Skydance aims to create stories that appeal to audiences around the globe, and Jennifer is the perfect partner to reimagine these beloved, classic musicals for a 21st-century audience.”
In 2017, Lopez was attached to a TV remake of Bye Bye Birdie, a 1960 stage musical adapted into a 1963 film of the same name. The original movie starred Janet Leigh, Dick Van Dyke, and Ann-Margaret. Lopez’s adaptation never came to fruition, but that could be changing.
“It is an honor to join forces with Jennifer Lopez and Nuyorican while broadening our partnership with Skydance,” said Sophia Dilley, Concord’s senior vice president of film and TV development and production. “We are excited to collaborate with this impressive team as we continue to champion creative opportunities for the authors and works we represent, together with the copyrights we own.”
