Killers Of The Flower Moon is going to need somebody other than Paramount Pictures to foot the bill, as the price heads north.
Well, there’s certainly a precedent here. For a long time, movie studios were umming and aahing over backing Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, with ultimately the $150m+ bill putting them off. Paramount for one withdrew from the project, that was stuck in limbo until Netflix footed the bill in its entirety.
Now, Scorsese is shaking tins again for his next film, and it sounds like it’s going to be even more expensive.
He next plans to make Killers Of The Flower Moon, starring Robert De Niro Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s based on a true crime novel that tells the story of a series of murders in 1920, and the foundation of the FBI. Paramount had been set to back the movie, but once again, the price has gone up. The current price for the picture is estimated at $200m.
As such, Paramount has dropped out of backing the film (although remains keen to distribute), and Scorsese is once again looking for fresh financial backers. He’s reportedly spoken to both Universal Pictures and MGM, but he’s likely to have more success with Apple+ and Netflix, to whom apparently a call has also gone in.
Given that the box office prospects for the film suggest that making the $500m or so that’d allow a $200m movie to break even would be some achievement, don’t be surprised if one of the streaming services steps in. Fifty quid says it won’t be Disney+, though.
More as we hear it.
WSJ
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