Universal Pictures has won a four-studio bidding battle to acquire Humbug, a spec that is fast coming together for Ice Cube to star in the title role, with Tim Story directing a contemporary retelling of the Charles Dickens’ tale A Christmas Carol. In the modern version, Cube will play a wealthy real estate mogul shown a path to redemption by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.
It becomes the latest in a line of Relativity refugee projects getting second chances elsewhere. Those include acquisitions like The Bronze, which just moved to Sony Pictures Classics, and Jane Got A Gun, which shook loose in late July. It was expected then to move to The Weinstein Company (which has a stake), and that has now happened.
Source: Deadline
