Feb 12, 2018
Universal and Legendary have teamed up to pick up the scorching-hot Dwayne Johnson project Red Notice.
The two companies pacted together to win a bidding war that included almost all the major studios, among them Warner Bros./New Line, Paramount and Sony.
Red Notice, an action comedy, hit the town earlier in the week, with execs instantly salivating despite a queasy price tag. The project came with a fee of $10 million for Rawson Marshall Thurber, the filmmaker behind Johnson’s Central Intelligence and upcoming Skyscraper, and a proposed budget between $125 million and $150 million.
One number in play was Johnson’s salary, which was crossing over $20 million for the first time.
It is unclear how the Universal-Legendary team-up will work, but it is understood that Universal will act not just as a distributor but co-financier, too. The studio already releases Legendary movies and will be releasing Skyscraper. Universal also produces the Fast and Furious movies, in which Johnson has become a key player and for which he will soon be toplining, along with Jason Statham, his own spinoff.
The Red Notice project is on the fast track and the plan is to shoot it in 2019.
The title refers to the highest and most serious of Interpol notices (there are eight) and concerns the arrest of wanted criminals. While details of the plot are unknown, Johnson would play a man who works for the international police agency. The project is a two-hander and the studios are hoping to land another big star for the gig.
