Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Sipa USA via AP
Netflix has been uncharacteristically quiet in the acquisitions marketplace at the Sundance Film Festival, but word in Park City is that the streaming service has a big picture deal cooking.
No confirmation yet, but I hear the streaming service is bearing down on a deal to acquire from Paramount nearly all rights to God Particle, the Julius Onah-directed film that is considered a sequel to the low-budget genre hit Cloverfield. It is produced by JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot. Consider it a strong rumor at this point that is building steam.
Paramount had the film dated for April 20, but I’ve heard that Netflix might debut it on the streaming service more quickly than that. It would be the second recent deal between Paramount and Netflix, after the latter acquired international on another genre film, the Natalie Portman-starrer Annihilation. Here, Netflix would take the world with the exception of China. Elizabeth Debicki, Daniel Bruhl, Gugu Mbatha Raw, Chris O’Dowd, Ziyi Zhang and David Oyelowo lead the ensemble cast.
The pic revolves around a scientific experiment aboard a space station involving a particle accelerator that has unexpected results involving alien life. The astronauts find themselves isolated, and following their horrible discovery, the space station crew must fight for survival. I recall that God Particle‘s similarity to the Daniel Espinosa-directed Life was the reason Paramount didn’t move forward with that Skydance project. Sony Pictures released it instead. This one’s The Thing in deep space.
No word from the studio or Netflix, so stay tuned.
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