[Movies] Universal Acquires Rights To Proof of Heaven Posted by Joseph Lee on 02.26.2013
A spiritual film...
Deadline reports that Universal has acquired the rights to the non-fiction book Proof Of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey Into The Afterlife. Mary Parent and Cale Boyter will produce through Disruption Entertainment. The rights deal was six figures and came after a bidding war between three different studios.
The film will be written by Ryan Knighton, who adapted his own memoir Cockeyed (his account of going blind over 15 years) and is currently adapting Peter Spiegelman's novel Thick As Thieves for FOX 2000 and Film 360.
The book was #1 on the New York Times bestseller list after it was published in October by Simon & Schuster. It was written by Eben Alexander. Alexander is a neurosurgeon who taught at Harvard Medical School and chose science over faith, even though he was a Christian. He did not accept religious theories of the afterlife until he contracted a rare bacterial meningitis that went through his cerebro-spinal fluid and attacked his brain. While in a coma for seven days he had a near-death experience in 2008. He woke up telling everyone he saw Heaven.
The interest in the book was due to its appeal to a faith-based readership. This will be presented as a true story. The book was published in thirty countries with more on the way.
