Will Smith and Michael Mann are Empire Builders

Will Smith and Michael Mann are reuniting to build an Empire for Columbia Pictures.

Variety reports that "a seven-figure pitch deal" netted the project for the studio. Mann, who last directed Smith in Ali, will work from a script by John Logan -- another reunion for the director, who developed The Aviator with Logan before handing it off to Martin Scorsese.

Though Mann hasn't directed Smith since they made Ali, he's co-producing Hancock, the Peter Berg-directed drama that, in Variety's words, "stars Smith as a disaffected superhero."

So what's Empire about? Nobody's telling. From the article:

Neither the studio nor the principals would elaborate on the plot, but sources said that Smith will play a contemporary global media mogul.

A global media mogul, eh? Sounds like a real stretch for Smith. We love it!

Source: www.cinema-pedia.com