NBC Buys Modern-Day Noah’s Ark Drama Produced By Robert Zemeckis

NBC has bought The Ark, a high-concept drama spec from 20th Century Fox TV and Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers. The project, a grounded, modern retelling of the Noah's Ark story from the Bible, was written by Black List scribe Daniel Kunka ( 12 Rounds ). It centers on an engineer who, after the death of his wife, has a vision to construct a ship capable of sustaining life in space. When the build happens to coincide with the coming end of the world, the engineer realizes there may be a larger story at play.

ImageMovers partners Zemeckis and Jack Rapke executive produce the drama alongside the company's Jackie Levine and Madhouse Entertainment's Adam Kolbrenner & Robyn Meisinger.

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The Ark originated at 20th TV's cable division Fox 21 TV Studios, migrating to the broadcast studio when it was determined that the drama was better suited to network TV. It is a rare sale in what has been a sleepy summer broadcast spec market with a lot of scripts but no standouts.

The Noah story was most recently retold on screen with the 2014 Darren Aronofsky movie starring Russell Crowe.

Kunka has been featured on the annual Black List industry survey of the best unproduced feature scripts with period epic The Battle of New Orleans, which sold to Endurance Media, and Yellowstone Falls , which sold to Covert Media. Additionally, Kunka recently adapted the classic arcade game Space Invaders  for Warner Bros. and sold spec feature Agent Ox  to Sony with Neal Moritz producing and Bermuda Triangle  to Warners with Chuck Roven producing.

ImageMovers most recently produced the upcoming Brad Pitt starrer Allied,  set for a November release. The company is repped by WME. Kunka is repped by ICM Partners, Madhouse Entertainment and attorney Sean Marks.

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