Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has made headlines recently by being up to his usual tricks of deleting finished films for tax write-offs. This time, it was the Looney Tunes-themed movie, Coyote vs. Acme. The family comedy that put a twist on the classic Wile E. Coyote cartoon featured stars like John Cena and Will Forte and would have the opportunity to be distributed by another studio, but Zaslav set the bid at $70-$80 million. That amount would have potential buyers leaving the floor and now the movie is in danger of being deleted. In a new development at the company, Variety reports that Margot Robbie‘s production company, LuckyChap, has just signed a partnership deal with Zaslav and the famous water tower after the big year they both had with the Greta Gerwig film, Barbie. The partnership is a multi-film, first-look deal on future projects. Robbie’s LuckyChap would be a driving force behind her own I, Tonya, as well as films like Promising Young Woman and the recent Saltburn. The company also produced television projects like Netflix’s limited series Maid, as well as Hulu’s Dollface and Mike.
Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chairs and CEO Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy have expressed their excitement over this partnership, “Margot, Tom and Josey have built a unique home for storytellers at LuckyChap, where filmmakers are doing incredible work in a supportive and creatively freeing environment. We are excited to have Margot, Tom and Josey join our extended family, making movies of all sizes and genres for moviegoers the world over.” The LuckyChap team stated, “We founded LuckyChap to fight for projects and filmmakers we believe in. We are thrilled to be cementing our long-standing relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery. David [Zaslav], Mike and Pam share our commitment to storytelling and the theatrical experience. We can’t wait for what’s to come.”
Robbie has been adamant about not franchising Barbie and has been championing the development of more original projects. The actress told Variety previously, “We want to make more films that have the effect that Barbie has. Why can’t it be another big, original, bold idea where we get an amazing filmmaker, a big budget to play with, and the trust of a huge conglomerate behind them to go and really play? I want to do that.”
The comment section exists to allow readers to discuss the article constructively and respectfully, focused on the topic at hand.
What’s Not Allowed