Gary Dauberman, 'Game Night' Writer Team for 'Stray Dogs' Horror Adaptation

Paramount Animation is going to the dogs. The animation arm has picked up the rights to upcoming horror comic book Stray Dogs, setting Game Night scribe Mark Perez to write the script. Gary Dauberman, the horror filmmaker who counts the Annabelle and It movies among his credits, is set to produce via his banner, Coin Operated.

'Game Night' Screenwriter Is Dreaming of Sequel Possibilities

Game Night stars Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams as a couple whose regular Saturday evening gathering of friends turns into a real-life murder mystery. Perez uses a sports analogy for how he's taking in opening weekend, which has seen the film earn positive reviews from critics and take in an estimated $16.6 million, a solid number for an R-rated comedy.

SCREENWRITER MARK PEREZ TALKS GAME NIGHT, DWAYNE JOHNSON, AND THE CURRENT STATE OF TELEVISION

I have done my fair share of interviews and what makes an interview truly memorable is not who the interview is with but rather how much fun the conversation is. Last week, I had the opportunity to talk with Game Night screenwriter Mark Perez and we just had a terrific time and it was easily one of my favorite interviews to date. We spoke for about 40 minutes and could have easily talked more.

“Game Night” Is the Comedy Knockout We’ve Been Waiting For

Mark Perez has written one of the tightest comedy scripts to make it to be the big screen in ages. Game Night, directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, wastes not a single second of dialogue, gives killer lines to every member of its all-star ensemble, delivers genuinely tense action sequences, and even goes for broke with style. Do we finally have an American counterpart to Britain’s Edgar Wright-Simon Pegg team?

'Game Night' Is Winning

Restraint seems an odd word to apply to a film this crowded with car chases, gunplay, sneering bad guys, panicky good guys and one gleefully gruesome instance of ad-hoc, back-alley, gunshot-wound surgery.

And yet, here we are.

‘Game Night’ is every suburbanite’s worst nightmare

A friendly game of trivia can turn ugly fast. Beer is chugged, insults get hurled and tears are shed — but nobody ever dies.

Not so in “Game Night,” a riotous dark comedy in which a cute suburban get-together becomes a lethal nightmare.

Game Night Screenwriter Mark Perez on Growing Up in Kendall

When he was taking his girlfriend to the movies in Kendall, screenwriter Mark Perez never thought he would one day be writing scripts for big-time Hollywood studios. The Sunset High grad says his best memories of going to high school in Kendall were movie nights at either the now-defunct AMC in what was then called Kendall Town & Country Mall (now the Palms at Town & Country) or the Falls’ United Artists, which is now owned by Regal Cinemas.

ABC Developing Latino Family Comedy From ‘Accepted’ Scribe Mark Perez

ABC has bought Accidentes, a Latino family comedy pitch from Mark Perez, Eric Tannenbaum and CBS TV Studios. Written by Perez, Accidentes centers on a disgraced Wall Street lawyer who had distanced himself from his Latino roots and goes back home to work at his family’s strip-mall law firm in the heart of Little Havana.

Jennifer Lopez Object Of ‘Mothers I’d Like To…’: Universal Buys Comedy Pitch

EXCLUSIVE: After the success of their micro-budget thriller collaboration The Boy Next Door, Universal Pictures has re-teamed with Jennifer Lopez on Mothers I’d Like To…, a comedy pitch that will be developed as a star vehicle for Lopez. They are keeping mum on a logline, but I’m told it’s Bridesmaids meets First Wives Club. The pitch is based on an idea by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and the script will be written by Mark Perez.

On Eve Of ‘Identity Thief,’ Jason Bateman Sets ‘Game Night’ Pitch At New Line

EXCLUSIVE: Jason Batemanand Jim Garavente’s Aggregrate Films and Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and John Fox have joined to produce Game Night, a comedy that was acquired by New Line Cinema from a pitch by Mark Perez. The plan is for Bateman to star in an ensemble comedy about a group of couples caught up in a very real game night. They get together regularly to play games together but on this night, things get real and it becomes a murder mystery.

Spike orders 'Back Nine' golf pilot

The single-camera "Back Nine" stars "The Dukes of Hazzard" alum John Schneider as Ronnie Barnes, a hard-drinking, larger-than-life, washed-up former U.S. Open champion. He travels the country competing in small-time tournaments with Tiger, his sex-addicted longtime caddy, in order to qualify again for the PGA Tour.

UPDATED: How 'The Hangover' Got Made (P.S., It's Based On Someone In H'wood)

Back in 2003, the same Greg Silverman bought a pitch from Mark Perez for The Afterparty, in which a young man enjoys his Las Vegas bachelor party so much he can’t remember anything about it. Then, as he and his fiancee make last-minute preparations for their big day, the strange characters he befriended during his lost weekend — including a chicken and a tiger — begin to make surprise appearances. Silverman was to oversee the project. Jamie Kennedy was attached.

Mandeville’s TV 6-pack

 The Alphabet, where Mandeville has a first-look deal with ABC Studios, has picked up five projects: “Kegs,” from feature scribes Jason Filardi (“17 Again,” “Bringing Down the House”) and Mark Perez (“Accepted”), a workplace comedy about a family that runs a beer distribution biz. Bob Kushell (“Samantha Who?”), would serve as a supervising producer;

Columbia gets comedy project duo

Columbia Pictures has acquired an untitled pitch by “Accepted” scribe Mark Perez for Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison to produce. Col has also tapped the writing team of Tim and Tom Mullen to adapt Antony Moore’s novel “The Swap” for the bigscreen.

Perez’s pitch centers on a man in a troubled marriage who figures out a way to create the perfect wife. Perez is writing the comedy “Early Retirement” for Warner Bros. and the Elizabeth Banks starring vehicle “What About Barb” for Universal.

‘Retirement’ lures Gervais - Warner Bros. is 'Early' to rise

Ricky Gervais is getting ready for “Early Retirement” at Warner Bros. British comic is attached to star in the feature based on Mark Perez’s comedy pitch about an work-obsessed man who quits his demanding job to spend more time with his family. Mosaic Media’s Charles Roven and Richard Suckle are producing, with Perez exec producing.

Banks engaged by ‘Barb’

Elizabeth Banks is hitched to the pitch for “What About Barb.” Banks will star in and produce the Universal romantic comedy, about a socialite who must allow her uncouth cousin to be maid of honor so her nouveau riche uncle will pay for the wedding.

“Accepted” scribe Mark Perez is writing the pic, based on the story of the same name by Jill Bernheimer and Keetgi Kogan. Mary Parent and Scott Stuber are producing for their U-based Stuber/Parent shingle. Max Handelman, Bernheimer and Kogan will also exec produce.

The old college try at U

In a bidding war that drove the price to $1.25 million against $1.75 million, Mark Perez has sold his spec “Accepted” to Universal Studios for Tom Shadyac’s Shady Acres Entertainment. Universal is keen to keep Shadyac, who directed and produced U’s summer hit “Bruce Almighty,” in the mix with new projects. The high-concept comedy “Accepted” follows a high school senior who finds a unique way to resist parental pressure to attend college.