Legendary in Talks with Paramount for Theatrical Distribution Deal

The Skydance-owned Paramount continues its breakneck dealmaking.

A little over a week after taking hold of the studio, the David Ellison-led executive squadron is in talks to make an output movie deal with Legendary Pictures, the producers of the Dune and Monsterverse movie franchises.

Legendary previously had output deals with Warner Bros and Sony Pictures. Its deal with Sony expired at the end of last year.

Paramount had no comment.

Any deal with Legendary excludes the Godzilla-Kong movies as well as the Dune franchise, which lucratively remain parked at Warners. Its time at Sony wasn’t very fruitful; Biblical comedy The Book of Clarence, bombed as did the action comedy The Machine.

That said, Legendary still makes hits. The Minecraft Movie, released via Warners, is the year’s second biggest movie, grossing over $955 million worldwide. And Warners still has the Alejandro Inarritu Tom Cruise movie that it will release.

Perhaps the biggest title that Legendary has is Gundam, the adaptation of the Japanese anime and manga. That feature is to star Sydney Sweeney, who is working very closely with director Jim Mickle on the script as it aims to go into production next year.

It is unclear when the talks for this deal began. Sources said the dealmaking began earlier this spring, when the studio was being run by CEO Brian Robbins.

The Merger between Skydance and Paramount Global closed Aug, 7. Since then, the new entiry has made a $7.7 billion deal for exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship for seven years and is in the midst of deep negotiations to bring the Duffer Bros., the sibling creators of Stranger Things, to the lot under a rich deal that would include a theatrical component.