Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n
This Just In:<\/strong> Relativity and Walden Media announced today that they will develop, finance and produce a feature film adaptation of Alice Ozma\u2019s The Reading Promise<\/em>, a bestselling memoir of how a shared passion for reading helped a single father and his youngest daughter navigate the ups and downs of their lives. Doug Atchison (Akeelah and the Bee<\/em>) is set to write the screenplay.<\/p>\n Walden Media COO Frank Smith says, \u201cAt its core, The Reading Promise<\/em> is a heartfelt, imaginative story that celebrates family and love of reading, and as such, celebrates the core tenants of a Walden Media film. Jim Brozina\u2019s dedication to his family and the promise they made are nothing short of inspirational.\u201d<\/p>\n The Reading Promise<\/em> is a heartwarming, true story of a young woman whose single father (Jim Brozina), a beloved elementary school librarian, made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights. When the hundredth night came, neither wanted to let go of their storytelling ritual, so they continued their tradition until the night she left for college, a remarkable 3,218 nights (eight years) later.\u00a0 Alice tells her story as a series of vignettes about her relationship with her father and the life lessons learned from the books he read to her.<\/p>\n Ryan Kavanaugh and Deborah Giarratana (Machine Gun Preacher) <\/em>will produce the film alongside Walden Media. Tucker Tooley will serve as executive producer.<\/p>\n Walden Media\u2019s Vice President of Development and Production, Naia Cucukov, who was an actual student of Jim Brozina\u2019s in their town of Millville, NJ, brought the project to Walden and will oversee the project on behalf of the company. Robbie Brenner and Josh Reinhold are overseeing the project on behalf of Relativity.<\/p>\n Relativity Media is a next-generation global media company engaged in multiple aspects of content production and distribution, including movies, television, fashion, sports, digital and music. More than just a collection of entertainment-related businesses, Relativity is a content engine with the ability to leverage each of these business units, independently and together, to create content across all mediums, giving hundreds of millions of users worldwide what they want, when they want it.<\/p>\n Relativity Studios, the company\u2019s largest division, has produced, distributed or structured financing for more than 200 motion pictures, generating more than $17 billion in worldwide box-office revenue and earning 60 Oscar nominations. Relativity\u2019s films include Oculus<\/em>, Safe Haven<\/em>, Act of Valor<\/em>, Immortals<\/em>, Limitless<\/em>, and The Fighter<\/em>. Upcoming releases include The November Man<\/em> starring Pierce Brosnan and author Nicholas Sparks\u2019 The Best of Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n