The Tracking Board’s Daily Debrief (11.30.16)

Jackie Chan to Star in Joe Carnahan’s Action Film Five Against a Bullet (EXCLUSIVE)

The long-in-development project Five Against a Bullet has found its new star in action veteran Jackie Chan. Joe Carnahan is still set to direct and is also doing rewrites on the script from the original scribe, The Three Musketeers’ Alex Litvak.

NBCUniversal Has a Lot Going For It, But is That Enough to Save Its Cable Business? (Network Series)

Only one of NBCUniversal’s 15 cable properties gained viewership from 2014-2015. The networks saw a boost in ratings from NBCUniversal’s monopolistic coverage of the Rio Olympics, but now that the games are gone the question remains: will people stay to watch?

2015’s Hit-Makers: A Look Back at the Hit List Alums (2016)

Soon we’ll be releasing the 2016 Hit List, our compilation of the best year’s best spec scripts as voted on by industry professionals. In preparation for its release, we’re taking a look back at the writers who made the Hit List in 2014 — where they were, and how far they’ve come in just one short year.

More News From Around The Web

• Fox Searchlight is circling rights to the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy Greed. Michael Winterbottom is set to direct the project which is described as a satirical take on the world of the super-rich with Baron Cohen playing a cut-throat retail billionaire. (Deadline)

• The long-gestating Lena Waithe pilot is finally seeing some movement over at Showtime. The pilot will be re-shot and directed by Rick Famuyiwa replacing Clark Johnson. Waithe created and wrote the hourlong project, which has Common and Aaron Kaplan on board as exec producers. (Variety)

• Jamie Foxx is tackling the life story of another musical icon. The Ray star will executive produce a limited series about Marvin Gaye alongside de Passe Jones Entertainment’s Suzanne de Passe and Madison Jones, who will shop it to linear and digital outlets. (The Hollywood Reporter)

• Denise Richards, Nikki Leigh, and Charlotte McKinney are set to topline A Girl is a Gun, a grindhouse-style feminist series turning on three powerful women on a mission to fight misogyny at all costs. (Variety)

• Hannah MacPherson is in final talks to direct The Merciless, the Lionsgate adaptation of the Danielle Vega horror novel about good girls gone evil. The script has been written by Marlene King, creator and showrunner of the hit ABC Family teen series Pretty Little Liars. (Deadline)