Christopher Tuffin’s Strong Island has secured worldwide feature film and television rights to the Inspector Brant crime-novel series from the estate of the late Irish author Ken Bruen, whose hard-bitten London detective was first brought to the screen by Jason Statham in the 2011 film “Blitz.”
Under the pact, Strong Island will develop a new cycle of Brant films, launching with adaptations of Bruen’s “Calibre” and “Vixen.” British writer-director Tom Edmunds (“Dead in a Week”) is set to pen and helm both projects. Edmunds most recently wrapped the period action-thriller “The Butler” for Strong Island, starring Jean Reno and Tom Hollander, with Molly McCann also aboard. That film, set in 1920s London and produced by Tuffin, is currently in post-production.
Tuffin will produce the Inspector Brant pictures through Strong Island. He’s simultaneously shepherding a busy slate that includes the completed “Alphas” with Martin Henderson; a remake of the John Wayne western “Angel and the Badman”; “Last Meals,” toplined by Mads Mikkelsen (“Another Round,” “The Promised Land”) and Boyd Holbrook (“Narcos,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”); and “Princess,” starring Lucy Hale (“Pretty Little Liars,” “The Hating Game”). He also has a remake of “The Others” set up at Universal.
Tuffin past releases include “Canary Black,” starring Kate Beckinsale (number one on Amazon Prime), “Freelance” with John Cena (number one on Hulu, number two on Netflix), “Peppermint” with Jennifer Garner (which opened at number two domestically before reaching number one on Netflix), and “Sound of Freedom,” which bowed to $14 million on its first day and went on to gross more than $250 million worldwide.
Joel Gotler represented the Bruen estate in association with the Philip Spitzer Agency and will executive produce alongside the estate of the late author. Jere Hausfater repped Strong Island.
A promo for “The Butler” will be screening at the American Film Market on Nov. 11 at 11 a.m. at the AMC Century City 13, with K5 Intl. handling sales.