A well placed industry source has stated that Netflix has given a green signal to a film starring Brad Pitt and Adam Sandler to be directed by Noah Baumbach. One must note that the entire cast is noted to be a match made in heaven, Pitt, 59, is believed to be one of the last marquee movie stars whose name alone draws audiences to theaters. For example, this summer’s “Bullet Train,” an action-comedy starring the actor, grossed a respectable $239.3 million worldwide.
But a better indicator of his current appeal in prestige films is his latest wide release “Babylon,” directed by Damien Chazelle and co-starring Margot Robbie, which has been a box office bomb for Paramount during the holidays, grossing just $5.5 million domestically off a reported $80 million budget. (It has not yet been released in foreign markets.)
Yes, this new movie will stream — not hit theaters — but people still need to care to subscribe.Pitt did manage a 2023 Golden Globe nomination for his role as a fading silent movie star — but so did Kate Hudson for the atrocious “Music” in 2021. The Oscars red carpet will most definitely be Pitt-less.As for Baumbach, 53, his “White Noise” for Netflix has been a wipeout.
“White Noise” was a costly gamble for Netflix even in pre-production. The novel had originally been planned as the basis for a TV show for the studio A24 (“Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Aftersun”), which paid $50,000 to option the book — a fairly standard amount for a work that old. Hungry, hungry Netflix bought the option from them for $10 million, according to the source. Netflix was supposed to be strategically shifting away from dropping loads of cash on pricey, highfalutin projects that don’t drive subscription growth.