Black Bear Lands Global Rights to Laika's 'Atmosphere' — SkimNews
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- Black Bear acquired worldwide distribution rights to Laika's live-action adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid's "Atmosphere," winning the deal in what both companies called a "highly competitive situation."
- Black Bear will co-finance the film with Laika, release it theatrically in the U.S. and its territories, and serve as international sales agent.
- Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck ("Captain Marvel," "Half Nelson") will direct "Atmosphere" after adapting Jenkins Reid's novel, which is set amid NASA's Space Shuttle program in the 1980s.
- Taylor Jenkins Reid's novels have sold more than 24 million copies worldwide and previously spawned adaptations including "Daisy Jones & The Six" and "The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo."
- The "Atmosphere" plot follows astronaut Joan and fellow astronaut Vanessa, whose bond is forged through high-risk missions and tested when catastrophe leaves them in "an impossible race against time."
- Producers on the film include Laika's Travis Knight, Matt Levin, and Jeremy Kipp Walker, along with Boden and Fleck, Jenkins Reid, and Brad Mendelsohn of Circle M+P.
Why it matters: Black Bear and Laika are positioning "Atmosphere" as a global theatrical event built on Taylor Jenkins Reid's commercial readership — over 24 million books sold worldwide. Pairing the source novel with Boden and Fleck, whose "Captain Marvel" track record signals blockbuster scale, marks Black Bear's most ambitious theatrical distribution play to date.
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