Overview
- Multiple outlets reported Wednesday that Warner Bros. Pictures is negotiating to acquire the feature film rights to Allen Levi’s novel Theo of Golden and that Tom Hanks is in talks to play the title character.
- Industry reporting says Gil Netter, Gary Goetzman and Hanks would produce the film while Levi would serve as an executive producer and studio executives Jesse Ehrman and Sheila Walcott would oversee the project for Warner Bros.
- Sources described the agreement as being 'papered,' signaling paperwork toward a deal but not a closed sale, and no director, shooting schedule or formal studio announcement have been confirmed.
- Theo of Golden began as a 2023 self-published debut, was widely released by Simon & Schuster in October 2025, has sold about 3.5 million U.S. copies and been published in 43 languages after high-profile media exposure.
- Producers’ track records with book-to-film adaptations and Hanks’s attachment could boost the project’s commercial reach and awards prospects, and the author’s executive-producer role suggests he will have creative input as development proceeds.