Ridley Scott and Hugh Jackman Are Making ‘Treasure Island’ And It Is Heading to Sony

Maitri Modi

3 hours ago

Ridley Scott and Hugh Jackman are teaming up for a new Treasure Island movie adaptation.

One of the biggest beloved adventure stories ever written is heading back to the big screen and the team behind it is impossible to ignore. Ridley Scott will direct a new adaptation of ‘Treasure Island’ with Hugh Jackman set to star, and Sony Pictures is currently in talks to acquire the project. The announcement came on July 22 and immediately set Hollywood talking.

This new ‘Treasure Island’ is based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic adventure novel and features a script written by Jack Thorne, the co-creator of Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’, one of the most acclaimed and widely discussed series of 2025. The story follows Jim Hawkins, a young cabin boy who finds himself in possession of a treasure map. He soon sets jail on a dangerous hunt for buried gold but his biggest challenge is not the journey itself. It is Long John Silver, the charming, one-legged ship’s cook who conceals the fact that he is secretly a pirate and leads a murderous mutiny once they are at sea. What begins as an adventure quickly becomes a fight for survival on a deserted tropical island, with the treasure at the centre of everything.

‘Treasure Island’ has been one of literature’s most consistently adapted works since Hollywood’s earliest days. The novel was first published in serialised form in the 1880s before being released as a complete book. The first sound film version arrived in 1934, starring Jackie Cooper as Jim and Lionel Barrymore. Disney made their own beloved live-action version in 1950. In 1996, ‘Muppet Treasure Island’ gave the story an entirely different treatment with Tim Curry delivering one of cinema’s most memorable Long John Silvers. Walt Disney Animation later sent Jim into outer space in 2002’s ‘Treasure Planet’. Each generation has found its own way into this story, and Scott’s version now joins that long lineage.

Ridley Scott will produce the film through his production company Scott Free alongside Michael Pruss. Before ‘Treasure Island’ gets underway, his immediate focus is ‘Dog Stars’, a post-apocalyptic film based on Peter Heller’s novel of the same name, starring Jacob Elordi and releasing in theatres on August 28 from 20th Century Studios. At 88 years old, Ridley Scott shows no signs of slowing down and parking him with a classic adventure story on this scale feels like exactly the kind of project that suits the filmmaker who gave us “Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, and The Dualists”.

Hugh Jackman is coming off a strong period of work. He recently starred in A24’s ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ and in ‘The Sheep Detectives’ for Amazon MGM Studios, two very different projects that show the range he continues to bring to the screen. Interestingly , this would not be the first time he has stepped into a classic literary adventure. He previously played the pirate Blackbeard in ‘Pan’, the 2015 Peter Pan prequel from Warner Bros. ‘Treasure Island’ would put him back in that world this time on the other side of the camera, with a far more experienced director alongside him.

The decision to bring in Jack Thorne to write the script is one of the most interesting parts of this announcement. Jack Thorne co-created ‘Adolescence’ for Netflix, the four episode series about a teenage boy accused of murder that became one of the most watched and most debated pieces of television in recent memory. His ability to handle complex, morally layered characters on a large canvas makes him a compelling choice for a story like ‘Treasure Island’, which at its heart is about betrayal, greed, and who you can really trust.

Sony is currently in talks to acquire the package. Nothing is finalized yet, but with Ridley Scott, Hugh Jackman and Jack Thorne all attached, this is already one of the most exciting projects moving through Hollywood right now.