Shaun Burke

In their third pick-up since acquiring Overture Films this past summer, Relativity Media have baited the domestic rights to David R. Eliis’ Untitled 3D Shark Thriller which formerly went by the IMAX-like, National Geographic production title of Shark Night 3D. The film will swim into theaters sometime in 2011.

Just before The Fighter breaks out into moving-going consciousness, Venezuelan helmer Jonathan Jakubowicz wants us to think about another legend of the boxing world. Best known for helming 2005’s Secuestro Express, Jakubowicz will write, direct and produce, while Gael Garcia Bernal will need to pack on the pounds if he is set to star as the legendary, five-time world boxing champ Roberto Duran in Hands of Stone.

Indie helmers Allison Anders and Kurt Voss are using Kickstarter to finance the costs of their feature film Strutter -- the closing chapter in the trilogy that began with Border Radio and was last left off with Sugar Town. The two studied at UCLA together after meeting as production assistants on Wim Wender’s Paris, Texas and since then, they together or separately written and directed over 20 films and a number of television episodes and music videos.

Noir crime-fiction writer Ken Bruen’s work has become a hot commodity in Hollywood this past year and now it appears Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan (The Departed) is on the shortlist to direct a second Bruen adaptation: Once Were Cops. Joining Monahan on the shortlist is Animal Kingdom writer/helmer David Michôd.

The relatively young distribution arm of Tribeca Enterprises, Tribeca Film, just grabbed the US rights to The Big Bang Club in what may prove to be it’s biggest acquisition to date. Tribeca will be theatrically releasing the film, which had it’s world premiere at the recent Toronto International Film Festival, in the second quarter of 2011, as well as on video-on-demand, and other platforms.