There are currently two Steve Jobs biopics in the works. The first one, entitled jOBS, stars Ashton Kutcher as the Apple visionary and has already finished shooting.
The second Jobs biopic is set up at Sony, and has Aaron Sorkin writing the screenplay, but there is no additional movement at the moment.
Now with the Sundance Film Festival coming up, the Kutcher Jobs biopic is closing in on getting sold to the company Open Road. As Cinema Blend confirms, the film will premiere at Sundance on closing night, January 27, with Open Road putting up some $10 million to release the film. According to the jOBS imdb page, the film cost an estimated $8.5 million.
This Jobs biopic covers Steve’s life from 1971 to 2000, and stars Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Lukas Haas, James Woods, J.K. Simmons and Matthew Modine.
Open Road are new players in the business. According to their Wiki page, the company was started by AMC Entertainment and Regal Entertainment Group in March 2011. The first film they released was Killer Elite, starring Robert DeNiro, followed by The Grey, End of Watch, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D. They will also be releasing the adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s The Host this March.
With Sundance just around the corner, there should be reviews out for jOBS by the end of the month, and it will be interesting to see if the first Jobs biopic to make it out in the world is any good. The real test will be Kutcher’s performance, and it will be interesting to see if he can convince us he’s Jobs on the big screen. It will also be interesting to see who will play Jobs in the major studio version of the film, which should be the most coveted role in Hollywood when the movie’s ready to roll.
We’re still a ways away from the big Sony biopic of Jobs, yet you can’t help but get the impression that there’s still plenty more to cover in Steve’s all too brief but brilliant life.
