Director Michael Sucsy, who most recently helmed The Vow, is in talks right now to make a new musical with the music of the Beach Boys.
According to Variety, Sucsy is in negotiations right now to work on an untitled musical script from writer Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich). 20th Century Fox would be producing the project with Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The duo have had previous success with the movie musicals Hairspray and Chicago. John Stamos is also attached as a producer.
For this new musical Grant created a story and fictional characters that will be driven by the music of The Beach Boys. Sucsy has commited to the project and recently sat down with Grant to talk about the project. He was the first director given the script that responded to the call.
In October of 2010, Fox 20th Century picked up the rights to use the music of The Beach Boys after a long bidding war with Universal. The producing trio of Meron, Zadan, and Stamos worked together in 2000 to make the telepic The Beach Boys: An American Family for ABC. Stamos once played with the band and still has ties to the group's members now.
Recently, musical type projects like Mamma Mia! or Across the Universe have had a mixed record. Mamma Mia! hit the top grossing $610 million worldwide, but Across the Universe only made $29 million even though it had the music of The Beatles.
