According to TheHollywoodReporter, WarnerMedia has won the bidding war to land J.J. Abrams’ production company Bad Robot with a deal worth nearly $500 million. Bad Robot went on the market after their deal with Paramount Pictures expired.
Following a months-long courting process that included multiple suitors, WarnerMedia is in final negotiations for a new partnership with Bad Robot, sources say. It’s unclear how many years the new agreement is for as the deal that would Abrams with the company he has called home since 2006 has not yet been finalized. Still, sources have estimated that any new pact for Bad Robot could be valued at in the $500 million vicinity when all is said and done.
Under the deal, Abrams and company will continue to create and develop new projects for WarnerMedia and supervise other producers across film, TV and digital platforms. Sources say the process of moving Bad Robot’s feature film deal over from Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures has already begun.
Other recent suitors in contention included Apple, Disney, and Comcast.
While Bad Robot is known for their original pictures such as Cloverfield and Overlord. They also have dipped their toes in high-end television like with HBO’s Westworld and helped produce franchises such as Star Trek, Star Wars, and Mission: Impossible.
I know a lot of people are making assumptions that J.J. Abrams will suddenly get the keys to the DC Comics franchise, but nothing really suggests that’ll be happening anytime soon. What we’ll likely see is Abrams and Bad Robot help the studio develop new franchises and television series for HBO.
Projects that have stalled at Warner Bros. like their Logan’s Run reboot could use the help of Abrams and Bad Robot to get them back into development, possibly adding some of that Westworld magic. Other feature film projects that could use their help is The Time Machine and their adaptation of Attack On Titan.
It’ll be interesting to see what they attempt to tackle first.
SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
