The Hollywood Reporter
Warner Bros. is doubling down on its relationship with The Flash director Andy Muschietti and producing partner Barbara Muschietti. The duo and their Double Dream banner have inked parallel first-look deals with Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Television Group/Max.
The Muschietti’s relationship with the company dates back to Warners and New Line’s It (2017). The duo are already working on an It spinoff Welcome to Derry for Max.
The multi-year deals were announced by Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy, co-chairs and CEOs, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, and Channing Dungey, chairman and CEO, Warner Bros. Television Group.
On the film side, their three-year deal calls on them to develop large-scale features, with the possibility of Andy Muschietti directing.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled to strengthen our longstanding partnership with these unceasingly driven, incredibly gifted filmmakers,” said De Luca and Abdy. “Between Andy’s singular skill and vision as a director and Barbara’s sharp, far-sighted instincts as a producer, they’re a true filmmaking dream team, and channel their lifelong passion into films that deliver as both compelling human stories and heart-pounding crowd pleasers. It’s one of the reasons their movies connect so broadly and powerfully with audiences all over the world, and dovetails perfectly with the kinds of films we want to make.”
The siblings previously signed a first-look deal with WBTVG in 2021, and their new multi-year pact calls on them to continue to develop TV projects for all platforms, including Max.
“Andy and Barbara are singular artists whose vision and passion for Welcome to Derry has blown us away. We cannot wait for fans to see this next captivating — and horrifying! — chapter of the IT universe when it comes to Max,” said Dungey. “We are excited to continue our partnership, and we look forward to telling many more stories with them in the future.”
The Buenos Aires-born Andy and Barbara, who are siblings, made their Hollywood debut with the 2013 Universal feature Mama.
They shot to A-list filmmaker status when It became one of the top grossing R-rated movies of all time, with the Muschiettis following it up with It: Chapter 2 (2019) and The Flash, the new DC tentpole that had multiple creative teams come and go before the duo cracked the code and got it into theaters.
“Warner Bros. has been an incredible partner to us for years now, but more than that, Warners has been part of our whole lives,” said Andy and Barbara Muschietti. “We were watching movies before we could walk, and we spent our formative years as kids at the drive-in, and now we are joining the Warner Bros. family. It feels like a full-circle moment. Knowing Pam and Mike as long as we have really makes it feel like home. And we couldn’t be more excited to continue working with Channing and Brett Paul on the Television side.”
Separate from their first-look deal, they will also tackle the Batman feature The Brave and the Bold, keeping them in the DC Studios fold.
The Flash is in theaters starting Thursday night, and stars Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton and Sasha Calle. At Monday’s Hollywood premiere, Andy Muschietti noted of the long wait for the film: “We thought this would never happen because it was a real marathon … We hope it was worth the wait.”
Source: Hollywood Reporter
