Universal is in final talks to pick up the upcoming film ‘Arabian Knights’ for Imagine Entertainment producers Brian Grazer and Erica Huggins, Collider is reporting. While the details of the movie are still under wraps, it will tell the story of the Middle Eastern folk tales known as “One Thousand and One Nights”, or “Arabian Nights” in English.
The story for ‘Arabian Knights’ was conceived by Kyle Ward, which is the second script he sold to Universal after ‘Fiasco Heights.’ Ward’s adaptation of ‘Arabian Knights’ will reportedly be different from the upcoming FilmDistrict movie ‘Arabian Knights,’ which stars Liam Hemsworth and has been called the more traditional adaptation.
“One Thousand and One Nights” follows a Persian king, Shahryar, as he discovers that both his brother’s wife and his own new bride have both been unfaithful. He has his wife executed, and decides all women, given the chance, will be unfaithful. Shahryar begins to marry a succession of virgins, only to have them killed the next morning before they can dishonor him. When the vizier who finds the women for Shahryar can’t find anymore, his daughter, Scheherazade, offers herself. She stays alive by telling the beginning of a story each night, and doesn’t finish it until the next night. This goes on for 1,001 nights.
Written by: Karen Benardello
