Sony, EON team up for 'Remote Control'

CULVER CITY , Calif., April 14 (UPI) -- Sony Pictures Entertainment says it has acquired the movie rights to "Remote Control," a thriller novel by Mark Burnell.

"Control" is to be produced as a feature film by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli's EON Productions, it was announced Tuesday by Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, presidents of Columbia Pictures.

Ileen Maisel will join Wilson and Broccoli in producing the project, and Burnell will adapt his novel into the screenplay.

Sony and EON previously collaborated on the two most recent James Bond flicks "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace."

"Remote Control" is about a former war correspondent, now British corporate intelligence analyst, "who gets caught up in a conspiracy by Western corporations to destabilize the Chinese economy," Sony said in a news release.

"Following the trail to the United States, he discovers that his former lover is also being pursued. On the run together, they try to unravel the mystery of the conspiracy while trying to stay alive."

"Remote Control" is the second non-Bond property Sony Pictures is developing with Wilson and Broccoli. The studio is also collaborating with the producers on a new adaptation of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" with EON Productions and MGM.