In a broad stroke, Legendary Pictures has paired itself with Universal Pictures for five years, beginning in 2014. The news should make waves as Universal hopes that the deal will enable Legendary to proceed in producing large, geek-friendly tent pole entertainments that will feed into Universal’s theme parks. The deal is also set to affect Legendary’s current contract with China Film Group for future international films.
In a press release, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burk called the partnership a perfect fit that will allow the companies to create profitable, big budget entertainment for a global audience.
Similarly, Universal Pictures Chairman Adam Fogelson said, “Legendary has demonstrated a keen ability to identify and acquire powerful fresh intellectual property based ideas, match them with strong filmmakers and turn them into blockbuster hits.”
This news comes after a months-long drama that chronicled Legendary’s well-documented split from Time Warner’s Warner Brothers. Despite Legendary helping deliver two hits for the WB logo this summer with The Hangover Part III and Man of Steel, relations reportedly cooled to frosty levels in May between Legendary Chairman Thomas Tull and WB’s new Chairman Kevin Tsujihara, who also recently has severed the studio from outgoing President Jeff Robinov last month. Tull wanted Legendary to play more of a hands-on role in marketing and releasing the picture, among other demands that Warner Bros. decided to pass on.
To date, Legendary Pictures has quickly risen to prominence with a number of their “fanboy” friendly projects over at WB, including Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy, 300, Inception, The Hangover and Man of Steel. While this approach has led to a several duds, including Jonah Hex and Sucker Punch, Legendary’s overall push for strong creatives with high-concept geek material has mostly paid off to date. But like Robinov, Man of Steel’s massive success at relaunching has done little to save relations.
This deal comes right before the release of WB and Legendary’s next collaboration, Pacific Rim. Given the box office tracking on that project, perhaps it was wise for Legendary to get this news out first. This development also raises eyebrows for Legendary and Warner Brothers’ final collaboration, next year’s Godzilla. Between the studio change and Pacific Rim’s potential weekend pull, one wonders how Godzilla can continue to raise himself 40 stories high.
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