February 8, 2013 - 12:54 AMT
“Hot Tub Time Machine” helmer to direct “Shore Leave” action comedy

In a high-six against seven-figure pre-emptive deal, DreamWorks has acquired Shore Leave, a male-driven action comedy pitch that will be written by Steve Pink and Jeff Morris. Pink will direct the picture. The deal reunites him with Stacey Snider, who while chairman at Universal Pictures gave him his first shot at directing on Accepted, Deadline said.

That shot has given Pink a new career. He helmed Hot Tub Time Machine, and is in talks with MGM on the sequel. He’s in post production on About Last Night, an updated adaptation of the David Mamet stage play that Screen Gems is dating for release on Valentine’s Day, 2014. And he’s just been set to direct the pilot of the untitled NBC sitcom pilot starring his Hot Tub Time Machine star Craig Robinson, from The Office exec producer Greg Daniels.

While the title of this film seems self evident, they are keeping the plot of Shore Leave under wraps but see its franchise potential.

This marks the second recent pitch sale for Pink and Morris, after they got Disney to bite on an untitled re-imagining of the Don Quixote legend that Johnny Depp and Christi Dombrowski will produce through their Infinitum Nihil banner. Pink and Morris met working on True Memoirs Of An International Assassin, a script that Morris wrote and which made the Black List, and to which Pink remains attached as director.