The Atlas Shrugged Movie, Now More Than Ever?

As Katherine Mangu-Ward has noted, copies of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged have recently been flying off the shelves. Now The Hollywood Reporter wonders if the long-awaited Atlas movie will be taking off as well:

After decades in development hell, Ayn Rand's capitalism-minded "Atlas Shrugged" is taking new steps toward the big screen—with one of the film world's most prominent money men potentially at its center.

Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media is circling the Baldwin Entertainment project and could come aboard to finance with Lionsgate, which got involved several years ago….

Although it was written a half-century ago, producers say that the book's themes of individualism resonate in the era of Obama, government bailouts and stimulus packages—making this the perfect moment to bring the 1,100-page novel to the big screen.

"This couldn't be more timely," said Karen Baldwin, who along with husband Howard is producing, with film industry consultant John Logigian advising on the project. "It's uncanny what Rand was able to predict—about the only things she didn't anticipate are cell phones and the Internet." Baldwin may be on to something—love it or hate it, "Shrugged" is seeing a resurgence, with book sales spiking as debates rage in Washington and around the country about the government's role in a faltering free-market economy.

Read the rest here.

[Via Roderick Long]