Red Notice, one of the hottest projects all the studios were fighting for last year, just got even hotter. Universal won the rights to the globe-trotting action heist film led by Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot, but there has been a seismic shift that changes pretty much everything about it. Not only is Ryan Reynolds now part of the cast, but the film has a new home at Netflix.
Deadline reports that a major move has Red Notice headed from Universal to Netflix in one of the biggest acquisitions they’ve ever made. Netflix had come close to picking up the movie last year, falling just behind Universal who acquired the film based on a pitch by Johnson’s Skyscraper writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Maybe it was that film’s somewhat underwhelming box office, but when Thurber showed Universal execs a completed script and budget, they balked at committing to Red Notice, leaving Netflix the opportunity to swoop in. The budget is reportedly around $130M which, to me at least, sounds a bit on the low side. It’s still one Hell of a commitment from Netflix, though, as they continue to invest greatly in tentpole-sized projects despite recent suggestions they would cut spending for risky projects.
Perhaps Netflix doesn’t see much risk in a big-budget action movie led by the awesome trio of Johnson, Gadot, and Reynolds, all proven box office heavyweights with many successful franchises between them.
Production is expected to begin next year, but it’s unclear if this will get any kind of theatrical run to go along with a streaming release. It seems like a film that should, but we’ll just have to wait for more information to find out for sure.
