Paramount signs with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes
Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form's genre genre division Platinum Dunes has jumped ship from Rogue, and has been signed to a first-look producing deal to Paramount Pictures.
This seems like a no brainer for Bay and Paramount. While he's been in the studio's good graces on the high end with the Transformers franchise, Platinum Dunes puts him and his partners in position to be the go-to guys for low-budget fright fare.
This is the first term deal for Adam Goodman, the newly appointed president of the Paramount Pictures.
Goodman said:
What makes us so excited to have Platinum Dunes here at Paramount is how Michael, Brad and Andrew carved out an important niche for themselves over the past few years. They have consistently created excitingly commercial movies that have proven to be a formidable force at the box office. We look forward to a long and productive partnership with them.
Since forming in 2001, Platinum Dunes has produced eight relatively low-budget films, that have gone on to do quite well at the box-office. Their hits include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which cost under $10 million and grossed $80 million domestic, Friday the 13th, which cost under $20 million and grossed more than $65 million domestic, and The Amityville Horror. The latest is their forthcoming reboot of A Nightmare on Elm Street.
Bay says of the partnership with Paramount:
We offer a valuable service to the studio, especially with all this turmoil going on in the business right now, in that we do things cheaply, and we've had a lot of success with it. Through the first two Transformers films, I've gotten to know the studio very well, and I've got a good rhythm with them. I'm excited about this.
The first baby of the Paramount and Platinum Dunes love nest is the Stephen Susco(The Grudge) scripted Butcherhouse Chronicles, a Breakfast Club like movie that takes place in a haunted house. The producers will also board the Paramount project Property of the State, a Howard Franklin(Antitrust) written thriller about a young white-collar criminal whose attempt to straighten out his life is imperiled by an obsessive and menacing parole officer.
While Platinum Dunes has made its name(and money) in genre films, Fuller said that he and his partners want to branch into action and thriller films under the new deal, while keeping in mind:
The key is making them at a low budget.
What do you think of Paramount signing with Platinum Dunes?
Source: Variety