Movie To Be Built Around Barry Manilow Songs, Produced by Michael Stipe & Tom Hanks

First there was Across the Universe which built its story around the music of the Beatles. Then there was the movie version of Mamma Mia doing the same with the music of ABBA. Now, a film is about to go into production with a story built around the music of Barry Manilow.

According to Variety, the film will be made by Single Cell (Sandy Stern and Michael Stipe) and Playtone (Gary Goetzman and Tom Hanks) with the full cooperation on catalog from Manilow. The singers manager, Gary Kief, is also producing.

Word is that this will not be a full blown musical with the stars bursting into song, but a romantic comedy that will use the music of Manilow to enhance and transition. Manilow is expected to perform a couple of songs in the film as the plot revolves around fans going to Las Vegas to see one of his shows.

As the film is in early development, there is no word on casting or release date.