In the last few years Hollywood has moved to a slightly different financing model than it used to have, where most major movies are now co-funded by various investors and companies who put cash towards a slate of films and then share in the profits. Usually though, these investors have little control over the finished movie or which film are included in the slate their cash is helping get made.
That wasn’t true of Legendary, who negotiated a very different deal with Warner. They put in hundreds of millions of funding in the last eight years, but got to cherry pick exactly what movies they wanted to be part of – and they could literally choose anything – and then actively help put it together. The deal resulted in The Dark Knight movies, Watchmen, Man Of Steel and various other film, including this week’s Pacific Rim.
However that deal is coming to an end and Warner wanted to renegotiate, feeling that allowing Legendary to share in the premiere projects was cutting into their profits, particularly from properties they owned long before Legendary came along, such as Batman and Superman. However talks broke down, with Legendary’s Thomas Tull deciding that it would be better if his company took its cash and went elsewhere – and to be honest, Warner didn’t seem too upset about that.
Now it’s been revealed that Legendary will set up home at NBCUniversal. Variety reports that there had also been talks with 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate, but that Universal offered Legendary a more attractive deal.
The exact terms aren’t known, but its believed to be similar to what Legendary had at Universal, where it will be able to choose which projects it wants to co-finance and then actively develop them from beginning to end. It’s also know that Legendary wants to movie in the TV business, and Universal is the perfect place for that.
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