One of the biggest surprise hits of 2017 has been Get Out, the horror film from writer/director Jordan Peele that tackled racism and social politics with a unique blend of humor and frights. Peele’s next film, which will continue in the vein of Get Out and be another “social thriller,” will land in theaters March 15, 2019.
Universal will be releasing the untitled film, but with Captain Marvel coming out the week before and Godzilla: King of the Monsters coming out the week after, this is a bold play, pitting the film against some heavy-hitters and established brands.
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The success of Get Out, however, is hard to deny. The film, whose budget was a relatively small $5 million budget, has gone on to earn nearly $230 million worldwide, easily making it one of the most successful movies of the year.
In addition to the film’s financial success, it was a hit with critics, scoring a 99% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes with over 250 reviews.
Unsurprisingly, Universal was quick to secure the rights to Peele’s next movie, recognizing his talents as a storyteller.
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Universal chairman Donna Langley explained, “Through extraordinary imagination and fearless humor, Jordan has proven himself to be a game-changer who is driven to tell stories that are as commercially entertaining as they are disruptive and provocative.”
She added, “The entire Universal family takes great pride in his incomparable filmmaking debut, and feel fortunate that this studio will be Jordan’s home for many years to come.”
Considering Peele’s success, rumors began to circulate that he could take on a much more well-known property, most notably of which was the rumor he’d direct a live-action Akira. Peele refuted those claims, revealing he’s more interested in telling original stories at this point in his career.
Peele has signed a two-year agreement with Universal, which means Universal has first-look priority on Peele’s next film, which he will write, direct, and produce. The upcoming film will have a much larger scale than Get Out, which mostly takes place at one residence, and will have a budget nearly five times that of Peele’s previous film.
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In addition to making his own film, this deal with Universal will see Peele producing projects featuring filmmakers and stories from under-represented voices and opinions, whether that be due to gender, race, or sexual orientation. Many of the projects will come to life thanks to a partnership with Jason Blum, with whom Peele collaborated to create Get Out.
Peele revealed, “I am thrilled to continue the work we started together on Get Out — pushing the boundaries of storytelling, not only on the next film but with all of Monkeypaw’s future projects.”
The filmmaker started Monkeypaw Productions to address social issues through a comedical lens, much like Pelle did with Keegan Michael Key on their Comedy Central sketch comedy series Key & Peele.
[H/T Dark Horizons, Twitter / @Chucho_Q
