Deadline has announced that Universal Pictures has made a deal with Amy Pascal’s production company Pascal Pictures as her four-year production deal with Sony Pictures is ending. Amy has spent 30 years of her film industry career at Sony and it’s a pretty big move jumping over to Universal.
Ending a three decade run at Sony Pictures, Amy Pascal is moving her Pascal Pictures into a first look deal with Universal Pictures. Deal comes at the end of the four-year producing pact Pascal made at Sony in June, 2015, when she stepped down as chairman of the SPE Motion Picture Group after 20 years at the helm.
During her time in the exec suites, Pascal and her team had hits that include American Hustle, Captain Phillips, two earlier iterations of Spider-Man, the James Bond films Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall; Moneyball, The Social Network, 21 Jump Street, Zero Dark Thirty, the Men in Black films, Julie and Julia, Sense and Sensibility, Superbad, A League of the Own and Groundhog Day.
However, they do note that Pascal will continue working on the Spider-Man films along with the potential new television shows that Phil Lord and Chris Miller are expected to develop for Sony Television. Pascal was part of the team that made the deal with Marvel Studios and the success that led to Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse earning an Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Pascal will continue to shepherd the [Spider-Man] sequels, the Spider-Verse TV series spinoff with Lord & Miller, and an arsenal of projects she either acquired directly with Sony money or her discretionary fund.
Sony Pictures’ Tom Rothman echoed that Pascal will remain working on their Spider-Man franchise.
“Everyone at Sony Pictures, myself first among us, loves Amy. We are profoundly grateful for all her immeasurable contributions, both current and past, to our success. And the great news for us is that our partnership will continue for many years to come with her ongoing work on Spider-Man and other key titles. We are not parting, just sharing, and we are very happy for her.”
It’ll be interesting to what sort of films Universal hopes Pascal will attract to the studio.
Universal also recently nabbed a first-look deal with David Leitch and Kelly McCormick’s production banner 87North Productions. A clear sign they want to invest in some serious action films in the future.
To me, it sounds like Universal really wants more variety in their release lineup and hiring the two production companies could see the studio evolve beyond horror, animation, and sequels/spin-offs to The Fast and The Furious franchise.
SOURCE: DEADLINE
