From The Hollywood Reporter:

‘21′ aces do deal with 2929
Pair of Ben Mezrich books make way to big screen
By Borys Kit

April 29, 2008

2929 Prods. is doubling down with Dana Brunetti and Kevin Spacey of Trigger Street Prods. and author Ben Mezrich, picking up two projects from the team behind the gambling hit “21.”

First up is “Ugly Americans,” based on Mezrich’s 2004 nonfiction book. The story follows an American who takes a job in Hong Kong with an investment banker and realizes his boss is in cahoots with organized crime and is embezzling from the company — a situation even more precarious when he finds himself promoted to become his boss’s right hand man. Robert Schenkkan wrote the initial adaptation. 2929 picked up “Rules ” from DreamWorks in turnaround.

The second project, “Q,” is set in a near future where the U.S. government goes into lockdown when an epidemic breaks out. “Q” is based upon a book by Mezrich to be published in the fall. The novel is based on actual but little-known draconian quarantine laws.

Brunetti and Spacey are producing via Trigger Street. 2929 is financing.

“Ben writes page-turners for guys,” Brunetti said. “Guys that normally aren’t readers will dive into a Ben Mezrich story and read it quickly, and then pass it around to other guys. It’s chick lit for men.”

Brunetti said male readers relate to Mezrich’s rags-to-riches tales and ways to beat the system themes.

“21,” with a budget in the high-$30 million range, is based on Mezrich’s nonfiction tome “Bringing Down the House.” The Sony release has grossed more than $75 million domestically and more than $100 million worldwide.

Hi Everyone - ‘21′ held off Clooney’s ‘Leatherheads’ football comedy this weekend, topping the weekend charts with an estimated $15.1 million in ticket sales! This makes ‘21′ the #1 movie for two weeks in a row!

The film has now grossed $46.5 million! Thank you so much to all the viewers/readers who have made this possible.

Best,

Ben

Hey all,

The numbers are in and 21 is the #1 movie in the country thanks to all of you! We had a box office of about 24 million bucks- about 7 million more than top estimates! People are going nuts in hollywood, especially since the per theater average was around $9000…which is REALLY good. About 3.5 to 4 million people saw the film this weekend and probably about 7 million will have seen it by the end of next week.

Thanks to everyone who went and saw the film, it’s been an incredible weekend!

Best,

Ben

Hey everyone - I’ll be doing Rome on Friday, sorry about that - we had to reschedule.

Monday - I’ll be on The Jim Rome Show

Wednesday - I’ll be on Opie & Anthony

I’ll be promoting ‘21′ and ‘21: Bringing Down the House’- the book tie-in that is already a NY Times Best-Seller thanks to all of you! Check it:
http://www.amazon.com/21-Bringing-Tie-Students
-Millions/dp/1416564195/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF
8&s=books&qid=1206286653&sr=8-1

1) Me with the cast of ‘21′ and Jeff Ma of ‘Bringing Down the House’; 2) Me, Spacey, Brunetti; 3) Me and Tonya on the red carpet; 4) They have ‘21′ branded blackjack tables! 5) #1 Best-Seller…Holla

Monday night we had the official Boston Premier of 21, and it was beyond amazing. First, Jim Sturgess (the star), Jeff Ma (the real MIT kid) and I did 43 interviews all over Boston (imagine a fleet of black limos and 12 Sony publicists shuttling us around from 6 am to 6 pm and you get the gist!). Then we hit the Loews Boston Common, where there was a huge red carpet, 15 camera crews, all the local news shows, style reporters, a mob of about 200 onlookers, and our 600 guests- it was unbelievable. We were told that literally every single press person from every outlet in Massachusetts was there. After 30 minutes on the red carpet (and all the night time news shows carried it live), where my wife Tonya showed off her dress designed by a local designer and the 75,000 dollar necklace that Cartier loaned her to wear for the event (i watched it like a hawk all night!), we went into the theater, where the head of the Massachusetts Film Bureau first thanks the Governor (who was supposedly there), the Mayor (who was there), and then me for creating a Boston movie industry that is now one of the 3 biggest in the country. I said a few words, the film screened- to huge applause and incredible reaction- and we went on to our party at Mantra where 600 people stayed til midnight (and everyone from Paul Pierce of the Celtics to Ben Kingsley partied with me and Jeff and Jim and Tonya). It was an amazing evening.
 
Anyway, the fun continues, we head to Austin to open the film festival there tomorrow. BDTH is already at 94 on Amazon and 21 now has a huge billboard in Times Square!

l to r: Dana Brunetti, me, Jim Sturgess and Jeff Ma

March 8 in Austin, Texas:  2pm signing at the Borders in the Westgate Marketplace.
 
March 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada:  6pm signing at the Borders Express in the Fashion Show mall.

March 26 in New York, NY: 1pm signing at Borders Wall Street area store.

See you there!

The brand new paperback version of “21″ (or as it was originially titled, Bringing Down The House!) hits the bookstores today; it’s got a new appendix with some original materials, including an interview I conducted with Jeff Ma, the real Kevin Lewis. It’s got the movie poster as the cover, so check it out if you’re in a bookstore (it should be all over the airports by now, and of course you can get it on Amazon or B&N.com). And the movie is on its way! ‘21′ will open wide March 28th!