Universal Pictures will not finance and distribute the Paul Greengrass-directed Dr. Martin Luther King project Memphis, Deadline is reporting.
The studio has halted progress on a film scripted by Greengrass and produced by Scott Rudin. Universal picked it up last month, with plans to put the picture in to production in June so that it could be ready for release around MLK Weekend, 2012. Why has this happened? The studio confirms that it halted the movie, but attributed it to timing and scheduling, and an uncertainty the film could be pulled together in time for next February.
More details at Deadline.