Preview:
- Tom Holland is to star in and produce ‘The Partner.’
- It’ll adapt the successful John Grisham novel.
- Graham Moore is writing the script.
For a while there, between the early 1990s and the early 2000s, lawyer-turned-author John Grisham found his works very much in demand.
His twisty legal thrillers, already big sellers in book form, became the source material for a run of hugely successful movies, including the likes of ‘Runaway Jury,’ ‘A Time to Kill,’ ‘The Client,’ ‘The Firm’ and ‘The Pelican Brief.’
8717While the big screen doesn’t go down the legal route as much these days (Clint Eastwood recently tackled the genre with the non-Grisham ‘Juror #2,’ only for Warner Bros. to give it a short theatrical run before pushing it quickly to streaming), it looks like there’s life in the Grishamverse yet, as Tom Holland is now aboard an adaptation of the writer’s 1997 bestseller ‘The Partner’ as star and producer.
According to Deadline, Holland will make this as one of the first projects with his freshly-formed Billy17 production company after New Regency –– which at one point had planned to have John Lee Hancock make it after ‘The Blind Side’ was a success –– let the rights lapse.
Indie production outfit Rideback saw an opportunity, snapped up the chance and set the movie up at Universal, with Holland then jumping aboard.
Related Article: Tom Holland Talks New Video Game Adapted Movie ‘Uncharted’
What’s the story of ‘The Partner’?
The plot follows Patrick Lanigan, a young partner in a white shoe Biloxi law firm who fakes his own death in a burning car. He’s left behind a wife, newborn daughter, and a secret. What he’s actually done is fake his death to create a template for a new life by stealing $90 million from a client of his crooked law firm.
He finds happiness and love in South America. When the client who worked so hard to defraud the government finds the money is missing from his offshore accounts, he becomes determined to hunt down the lawyer he doesn’t believe is dead.
That leads the attorney to have to turn himself in to the FBI and face up to the wife, child and life he left behind…
The role of Lanigan offers Holland the chance to play another conflicted, morally questionable character, and enjoy some of the complexity he found in the likes of ‘The Crowded Room’ and ‘Cherry.’
While there is no director attached yet, there is a writer at work bringing the script to life: Graham Moore, whose credits include films such as 2014’s ‘The Imitation Game,’ and 2022 crime thriller ‘The Outfit’ (which he also directed).
What else is Tom Holland attached to?
After taking a year off following his heavy work schedule on ‘The Crowded Room’ (which he has recently described as a less-than-pleasant experience), Holland has stepped back up and is ready to tackle some big roles.
He has one of the lead parts in Universal’s ‘The Odyssey,’ Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ follow-up that also stars Zendaya, Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong’o and Charlize Theron.
GMFxtsAnOuHq3zrIA41A62We’re still waiting to hear quite what angle the director will take on the mythological classic novel, but he’s been hiring half of Hollywood to support Holland and Damon.
With a July 17th, 2026 release date on the books, that one is scheduled to kick off shooting soon.
Holland (and Zendaya, most likely) will then segue into a fourth ‘Spider-Man’ movie for Sony and Marvel, with ‘Shang-Chi’ director Destin Daniel Cretton directing after Jon Watts (who handled the previous three Spidey movies) decided he needed a break from the superhero life.
The plotline for the next ‘Spider-Man’ remains a mystery, but it’ll have to deal with the fallout of 2021’s hugely successful ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ which ended up Peter Parker choosing for the world to forget who he is lest he put his friends and family in danger.
Whatever it ends up being called (and we may have to wait for the notorious spoiler-leaker Holland to slip up and accidentally announce it), that movie is set for release on July 26, 2026. Summer next year will be Holland heavy.
We wouldn’t be surprised if Holland also shows up as Spidey/Peter Parker in at least one of the next two ‘Avengers’ movies, which have Joe and Anthony Russo in the director’s chair.
Aside from those two confirmed go-projects, Holland also has some others floating around his to-do list, including a Fred Astaire biopic, historical drama ‘Beneath a Scarlet Sky,’ about a young Italian man who helps Jews escape to Switzerland during World War II, and ‘American Speed,’ based on the true story of three racing car driver brothers who became embroiled in a scandal.
That one also has Austin Butler attached, but despite the star power may also have to wait for the others to be completed.
When will ‘The Partner’ be in theaters?
Unless by some miracle it can get moving before the other big gigs Holland has lined up, we wouldn’t expect to see this one hit screens much before 2027.
Though it’s sure to be a shorter commitment than either the Nolan outing (even if that has a big ensemble rotating through meaning more potential time off) or the next Spidey effort, it’ll likely have to wait its turn.
Other John Grisham Movies:
- ‘The Firm‘ (1993)
- ‘The Pelican Brief’ (1993)
- ‘The Client‘ (1994)
- ‘A Time to Kill’ (1996)
- ‘The Chamber‘ (1996)
- ‘The Rainmaker‘ (1997)
- ‘The Gingerbread Man‘ (1998)
- ‘Runaway Jury‘ (2003)
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