One of the hottest packages to go around Hollywood in recent months has been the yet-untitled new film by the Hollywood dream team, director Ryan Coogler, and star Michael B. Jordan. Several studios pitched in with their takes on the material, and Warner Bros. ultimately landed the project. Now, they’ve set a release date for March 2025, per The Hollywood Reporter.
The new film, which will get the blockbuster treatment by the studio run by Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, will bow in theaters on March 7, 2025. This is a significant date, as WB loves that beginning of March spot almost as much as they love their early October window. Just this year they released there their prestigious Dune: Part Two, and two years ago they did The Batman. Both of those movies grossed a lot of money for them, and expectations are high for Coogler’s next film. Read on for more details on that.
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Filming is set to begin over the next few weeks, so look forward to some casting news about this project, which will surely attract A-list talent to play some of the supporting roles.
What Is Ryan Coogler’s New Movie About?
There is a thick wall of secrecy around this movie. Studio reps who wanted to participate in the auction had to go in person to the WME offices to read the script, as Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan wanted to avoid any leaks.
However, some details have leaked regardless. The story is reportedly set in the 1930s and will feature Michael B. Jordan playing twin characters. There’s a genre element to it, and vampires are set to be a central point of the narrative, going against the Ku Klux Klan in the Jim Crow-era South.
Ryan Coogler’s Behind-the-Scenes Plans for His New Movie
There was a lot of coverage early on around this mysterious movie because of the novelty that Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan introduced when selling it to distributors. They introduced a lot of conditions that were big asks for some of the traditional studios (the streamers were left out entirely), but none was bigger than this: after 25 years, the rights will revert back to Ryan Coogler.
This was reported by Matt Belloni at Puck News, who said that it was a dealbreaker for some of the major bidders (probably Sony and Paramount); Warners and Universal were apparently the last men/women standing. WB paid $75M, but most importantly, agreed that in the late 2040s/early 2050s Coogler and his heirs would own the movie. Who knows what that will mean by then, but in today’s language it means that it wouldn’t be part of any studio/streamer’s library, though they would be able to license it to the highest bidder.
There’s one more component to it: Coogler and Jordan want to make this a new franchise, with the script (which Coogler wrote) leaving room for sequels and spin-offs. So Coogler wouldn’t own only his 2025 movie, but the rights to the IP as well, which could turn out to be very profitable if managed correctly.
Coogler and Jordan are a lot younger than most of the executives they met with, so the terms of the fight were different for both sides. The creatives are fighting for their future and their heirs’. The suits are angry because of the precedent it might set: What if Chris Nolan asks for the same whenever he starts shopping for his next movie (which he’s apparently already writing)? Quentin Tarantino has implemented similar clauses in past negotiations with studios. For their part, De Luca and Abdy are mostly concerned about announcing to the press they signed a new film by Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan; they’ll worry about the repercussions later.
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What do you think about Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan’s new upcoming project? Are you excited to check out the new collaboration between these two guys? Do you think they will be successful in their March release date? Do you have any theories as to what the movie might actually be about? Let us know your thoughts on our social media or our Discord server, and stay tuned for more movie news!
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
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