Following Netflix’s cancelling of the $150m romantic comedy, Warner Bros is set to snap up Paris Paramount.
One of the more interesting stories from the last couple of weeks has been the status of Nancy Meyer’s Paris Paramount, a return to filmmaking for one of the standout directors in the romantic comedy genre.
Meyers has helmed such favourites as The Holiday and Something’s Gotta Give, not to mention being involved in The Parent Trap and Father Of The Bride. Despite possessing an almighty CV and bringing Netflix a project stacked with A-list acting talent, the company baulked at the reported $150m price tag and was negotiating with Meyers, aiming to get the budget for the film down to the $130m mark. Reports earlier this week suggested that the deadlock between the parties had led to Netflix cancelling the project.
However, things have taken another interesting twist with The Hollywood Reporter stating that the project is now in some form of development at Warner Bros.
There’s no indication yet as to whether that impressive ensemble cast has survived the switch to the studio but if Scarlett Johansson is still set to be joined by Penelope Cruz, Owen Wilson, and Michael Fassbender, we can imagine that Warner Bros might be far more willing to offer backend participation deals, bringing down the price of the production to a more appealing level.
Whilst this is just one project and we shouldn’t draw too many conclusions from it, should the film end up at Warner Bros it would mark an interesting reversal in the trend that we’ve seen over the last few years. You know, the one where an esteemed filmmaker finds a project deemed too expensive by a traditional studio and hops over to a streaming platform who are more than willing to throw cash at them. The prospect of a wide theatrical release will likely be pretty enticing to Meyers too and should this project make it to cinemas, it would be noteworthy simply because we don’t see that many romantic comedies in cinemas these days, especially not at this price.
We’ll bring you more updates on Paris Paramount as we hear them, especially given that this project’s journey towards production has come to represent the shifting interests and fluctuating ambitions of two of the industry’s major studios. Whether the film actually ends up at Warner Bros remains to be seen but the project’s progress is certainly an interesting tale to follow.
