Paramount is negotiating an extension of its first-look deal with Platinum Dunes, the production company run by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, according to several individuals with knowledge of the studio’s plans. The lawyers are still discussing the terms, but everyone involved expects the two sides to reach an agreement.
Paramount declined to comment.
Platinum Dunes has had a deal at the studio since 2009, and Paramount will release their first collaboration, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Aug. 8. The $100-million adaptation of the comic book and TV series is an unusual movie for Platinum Dunes, which specializes in low-budget horror films such as “The Purge” and “The Unborn,” as well as remakes of classics “Friday the 13th” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
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Those movies have all been hits for other studios. Universal released “The Purge,” and will release the sequel July 18, while New Line released “Friday the 13th,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”
Low-budget horror movies are a cheap way to generate profits for a risk-averse studio, and a new deal ensures Paramount will retain first dibs on all of Platinum Dunes’ projects. Platinum Dunes is cooking up another “Friday the 13th” movie for Paramount, and has already made “Project Almanac,” a found-footage movie that cost less than $10 million to make. Paramount was supposed to release it this February, but pushed it to January of 2015.
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Paramount is Michael Bay‘s home in more ways than one. Bay has made all of the “Transformers” movies for the studio, as well as “Pain & Gain.” Platinum Dunes has also established a presence in television, producing “Black Sails” and “The Last Ship” for TNT.