Paramount Pictures has signed a multi-picture deal with Will Smith and his entertainment venture company Westbrook, with two films set to star the Oscar winner already lined up.
One of the projects Smith is set to star in is “Sugar Bandits,” based on the novel “Devils in Exile” by Chuck Hogan which follows an Iraq War veteran who finds a new purpose by joining a group of vigilantes that go after drug rings and steal their money, only for things to quickly go south.
The other project, called “Rabbit Hole,” is currently under wraps but has “Dune” co-writer Jon Spaihts attached to the script.
The deal between Paramount and Westbrook is the latest made by the former under new owners Skydance Media, who completed a long-awaited merge last month that brought in Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein as new co-chairs of the studio.
The studio plans to increase its theatrical output to as many as 20 films per year and recently announced the heist thriller “High Side” from “A Complete Unknown” duo James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet. The studio also signed a multimedia deal with the Duffer Brothers, creators of Netflix’s “Stranger Things.”
Smith most recently appeared in Sony Pictures’ “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” which grossed $404 million worldwide at the box office last year. He co-founded Westbrook with his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. He is repped by CAA.
