With the box office success ofThe Revenant,to say nothing of it’s triumphs at the Golden Globes and its not-half-bad odds at the Oscars in a few weeks, it’s not surprising all the studios are going after the next project byLeonardo DiCaprioandMark L. Smith, the man who pennedThe Revenant.
Deadlineis now reporting Paramount came out on top last night in a competitive bidding situation to distribute and backConquest, the mysterious new project from the pair. Nothing is really known about the film at this point, but the title alone has the sound of adventure built into it, meaning that it might very well echo the tale-of-survival tone ofAlejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s gorgeous yet shallow frontier adventure. Of course, this is just a guess, as not even a log line for the film has surfaced as of yet and Paramount has yet to comment on the actual story of the film.
What is known right now is that Paramount is currently backing DiCaprio’s next pairing with the great Martin Scorsese, namely an adaptation ofThe Devil in the White City, Erik Larson’s beloved, brilliant non-fiction novel onDr. H.H. Holmes, one of Chicago’s most notorious serial killers, and the architectDaniel H. Burnham, who molded the 1893 World’s Fair. Right now, that film will follow Scorsese’s long-gestating look at the life ofFrank Sinatra, called simplySinatra, while Scorsese’s long-awaited passion project, Silence, is looking to see release later this year. Meanwhile, DiCaprio doesn’t have his next film planned as of yet, andConquestmight very well be that project, although he’s keeping very busy as a producer ofBen Affleck‘s anticipatedLive By Nightand, less exciting,Robin Hood: Origins. Only time will tell what exactly Conquest is about, and what DiCaprio’s next big move will be following the Oscar race.
