Breaking News: WB Backs Out of Jon Favreau's JERSEY BOYS Film

Warner Brothers has officially backed out of the upcoming film adaptation of JERSEY BOYS, set to be directed by Jon Favreau, Variety reported this evening.

The studio put the film on "turnaround," allowing the production company, GK FILMS, to shop the project to other interested studios, including Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox. Prior to Warner Bros. picking up the film, it sat in limbo at Sony for a number of months. WB reportedly didn't believe that the film's large budget and potential international appeal were enough to continue pushing the project.

Favreau had already begun casting for JERSEY BOYS, the film adaption of the Tony-winning musical, written by John Logan. Favreau's big-budget adaptation was originally slated to begin filming this January, eyeing a Christmas 2013 opening.

While no cast was officially set, Favreau was courting John Magaro (NOT FADE AWAY), Dominic Cooper (CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER), Vincent Piazza (BOARDWALK EMPIRE), Paul Dano (COWBOYS & ALIENS) and James Badge Dale (THE DEPARTED) to make up The Four Seasons.

Producer Graham King is rumored to sit down with other studios this weekend in order to keep the film alive and on schedule. 

JERSEY BOYS is the journey of how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time: Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty.

JERSEY BOYS is the winner of the 2006 Best Musical Tony Award, the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album and the 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Directed on Broadway by two-time Tony Award winner Des McAnuff, JERSEY BOYS is written by Academy Award-winner Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and choreography by Sergio Trujillo.