Warner Bros., Downey team for 'Perry Mason'

Warner Bros. and Team Downey are joining to relaunch the "Perry Mason" franchise like a feature film, with Robert Downey Junior. thinking of getting the title defense attorney role like a potential starring vehicle. Such as the original number of books by Erle Stanley Gardner, "Perry Mason" is going to be occur the rough and tumble realm of early nineteen thirties La, and have fan faves for example Mason's secretary, Della Street, private eye Paul Drake, and Mason's longtime court docket enemy, Hamilton Hamburger. Team Downey principals Robert Downey Junior. and Susan Downey will produce with Robert Cort, while David Gambino, Eric Hetzel and Joe Horacek will professional produce with Susan Feiles and Chris Darling. The producers are presently searching for a author, whose script depends with an original story by Robert Downey Junior. and Gambino. WB professional Jon Berg will oversee the work for the studio. Cort and the Robert Cort Prods. professional Hetzel teamed with Darling and Feiles of Action Entertainment to create the concept for that feature relaunch of "Perry Mason" to Team Downey. Estate attorney Horacek discussed the privileges deal with respect to Paisano Prods. Gardner's 82 "Perry Mason" books and a large number of short tales happen to be released in 37 languages worldwide. With book sales exceeding 425 million, Gardner, who mentored both Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett at the start of the careers, surpassed both of them in sales, even combined. In the height of his recognition, Gardner offered typically 26,000 "Perry Mason" books daily. A "Perry Mason" radio series started in 1937, running 3,257 episodes, and there have been 34 two-hour telepics and six movies from the nineteen thirties from Warners. However the character is possibly best referred to as protag from the popular Television show starring Raymond Burr, which went on CBS from 1957 to 1966 and featured memorable theme music composed by Fred Steiner. The series still plays everyday in 87 languages all over the world. Robert Downey Junior., who next stars in "A Virtual Detective: A Game Title of Shadows," is presently reprising his role as Iron Guy in Marvel's "The Avengers." He's repped by CAA. Contact Shaun Sneider at shaun.sneider@variety.com