'Sopranos' to return with big-screen prequel

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “The Sopranos” might be coming to the movie theater, but don’t expect to find out what happened to title character Tony Soprano.

Warner Bros. Pictures said Thursday that New Line has purchased a screenplay for a “Sopranos” prequel from series creator David Chase and Lawrence Konner. The studio says the working title is “The Many Saints of Newark” and will be set in the 1960s during the Newark riots between African-Americans and Italian-Americans in the hardscrabble New Jersey city.

Chase’s acclaimed series about mobster Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini, ran for six seasons on HBO and won 21 primetime Emmys.

Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich says in a statement that the studio is thrilled that Chase has decided to revisit and enlarge the Soprano universe. Chase will executive produce and co-write the film, but a director has yet to be selected.

Konner, who was raised in a Jewish family, wrote several episodes of the Sopranos during its run.