Ron Howard’s Survival Thriller ‘Origin Of Species’ Lines Up Starry Cast With Ana De Armas, Jude Law, Alicia Vikander & Daniel Brühl; AGC Joins Hot Pic For Cannes Market

EXCLUSIVE: We told you about Ron Howard‘s survival thriller Origin of Species last fall and the project now has a killer cast with Oscar nominee Ana De Armas (No Time To Die), Oscar nominee Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes) and Golden Globe nominee Daniel Brühl (All Quiet On The Western Front) attached and Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider) in talks to join.

Howard’s Imagine Entertainment are behind the buzz project with CAA Media Finance and Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, the latter which is newly aboard to finance and will be selling at the upcoming Cannes market.

Shoot is being lined up for Q4, 2023, in Queensland, Australia. Script comes from Noah Pink (Tetris).

Based on two different accounts of the same true story, the film is being described as an “a darkly comic tale of murder and survival, set around a group of eclectic characters who abandon civilization for the Galapagos. They are all searching for the answer to that ever-pressing question that plagues us all: what is the meaning of life.”

Producers are Imagine’s Brian Grazer and Karen Lunder.

This is the latest big package to hit the Cannes market, which despite the strike is looking like a trove of opportunity for buyers. Those with scripts further along — and the completed films in the festival —could be even more desirable with holes opening up in schedules due to the strike delaying some projects.

There has been unprecedented anxiety among sellers, producers, agencies and creatives about announcing projects in case they fall foul of WGA strike protocols or for inciting negative PR. But pretty much every package we’re aware of has ultimately gone out or is going out.

The sheer volume of projects and some steep budgets also have some buyers questioning the viability of many packages and their theatrical potential. The streamers aren’t as voracious as a couple of years ago, either.

Safe to say that a starry Ron Howard pic shouldn’t struggle to find the right home.

Oscar winner Howard is coming off the Amazon Thai cave rescue thriller Thirteen Lives. The pic starred Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton.

AGC will also be in Cannes with Joel Kinnaman (For All Mankind) starrer They Found Us, an alien abduction thriller to be directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9). Twilight outfit Temple Hill is also producing the project, which is due to head into production in Australia later this year.