Paramount Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer have reached a three-year, first-look agreement for theatrical films that will begin in April 2014, the new partners said Friday.
TheWrap broke the news this week that a deal between Bruckheimer and Paramount was close to being finalized. The new pact returns Bruckheimer to the place where he and his late producing partner Don Simpson crafted some of their biggest hits during the 1980s. Among those decade-defining blockbusters were “Top Gun,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Flashdance.”
In fact, Bruckheimer’s initial projects at his new home should leave him in a nostalgic frame of mind. His first picture under the new deal will likely be a new “Beverly Hills Cop” film, which is being written for Eddie Murphy by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, the team behind “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.”
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He will also produce “Top Gun 2” for the studio, which is being developed with Skydance Productions and will star Tom Cruise.
“Jerry Bruckheimer is one of the most creative and prolific producers in motion picture history,” Paramount Chairman and CEO Brad Grey said in a statement. “His signature style has attracted huge global audiences and we are thrilled to have him back in the Paramount family.”
Bruckheimer’s two decade long association with Disney came to a close this year, after the studio and the producer announced they would go their separate ways when his deal expired in 2014. Despite recent high-profile missteps such as “The Lone Rangers” and “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Bruckheimer has had an enviable string of hits and has remained remarkably immune to the changes in tastes and business models that have rocked the industry. He is one of the few mega-producers still working in an industry that has dramatically slimmed down its development deals with filmmakers and producers in recent years.
At Disney, where he relocated from Paramount in the 1990s, Bruckheimer unspooled action hits such as “The Rock,” “National Treasure,” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise. The “Pirates” films are among the most successful in film history, taking in $3.7 billion at the global box office.
In total, Bruckheimer’s movies have made $16 billion worldwide.
Bruckheimer has also made lucrative forays into television, producing shows such as “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “The Amazing Race,” but the deal with Paramount does not include television.
Warner Bros., where Bruckheimer’s TV operations are housed, was reported to be in play for his feature film services.
What led to a parting of the ways with Disney, wasn’t just the nearly $200 million write-down related to “The Lone Ranger.” The studio has put an emphasis on branded family friendly entertainments from Pixar, the “Star Wars” universe and comic book movies courtesy of Marvel Studios. That left Bruckheimer and the adult-skewing action thriller he produced something of the odd man out on the Disney lot.
Earlier this year, Disney delayed the fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film over script issues.
Lucas Shaw contributed to this report.