A day removed from Netflix walking away from Nancy Meyers’ next film, which some reports pegged was shaping up to be the most expensive rom-com ever made, Warner Bros. Pictures is now circling acquiring the project, IndieWire has learned.
No deals are in place just yet and everything is in early days, but if it does go forward, it would almost certainly now be released theatrically. That would certainly help considering estimates that the film could be budgeted between $130-150 million (A source told IndieWire on Wednesday that the $130 million figure is inaccurate and that the film was greenlit for a different amount).
Though talent like Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Owen Wilson, and Michael Fassbender were all circling the film, which is tentatively titled “Paris Paramount,” it’s also unclear whether any of that cast would carry over on the project should it land at Warner Bros., or if that same budget keeps.
Meyers’ return to directing was announced back in 2022, and the project seemed to be heating up with the buzzy casting news earlier this month. Meyers wrote the script and was meant to both direct and produce the film when it was set up at Netflix.
While plot details were never officially revealed, the film was said to have parallels to Meyers’ own life and would follow a young filmmaker who falls in love with a producer, only for the two to be forced together again years later on a new project.
Romantic comedies have been hit or miss, mostly miss, at the box office since the pandemic, but with the right combo of star power, they can still work. Universal last year released “Ticket to Paradise” starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and the film legged out to $168.5 million worldwide and did surprisingly well in its PVOD performance.
Meyers is best known for rom-com classics like “The Holiday,” “Something’s Gotta Give,” “What Women Want,” and “The Parent Trap.” Her last film “The Intern” starred Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro and made $194 million worldwide, though against a budget of just $35 million. But Meyers has been known to have some bigger budgets on films and has attracted top stars in the past, and she’s also known for more impressive sets that can drive up a film’s production budget. She was however the director on a short film made during COVID, “Father of the Bride Part 3 (ish).”
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