Lionsgate’s Summit Sets ‘Emperor’; Julius Caesar Story Is Based On Conn Iggulden Novels
By Mike Fleming Jr.
Deadline
EXCLUSIVE: Move over, Katniss. Lionsgate’s Summit Entertainment has found its next franchise hero: Julias Caesar. The company, whose franchise fare has included Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games and Divergent, has signed on with White Horse Pictures to co-produce Emperor, the first in what could be a trilogy of films about the rise of Julius Caesar and his best friend and eventual mortal enemy Marcus Brutus. Emperor will be based on the first two books written by Iggulden — The Gates Of Rome and The Field Of Swords — that establish the relationship between Caesar (the great military leader) and Marcus (the great fighter) from boyhood. The books cover their rise to the top of the Roman Empire, and the political and romantic entanglements that culminate in that fatal encounter on the floor of the Roman Senate. The final novel covers the revenge taken on Caesar’s murderers by Octavius and Mark Antony.
