The incredible tale of already-infamous rom-com Paris Paramount has taken another unexpected twist after Warner Bros. – who only recently stepped in to acquire the $150 million movie after it was canceled by Netflix for being too expensive – has reportedly been shelved indefinitely at its new home.
The latest update comes from Matthew Belloni of Puck, and it shouldn’t really come as a surprise given the twists and turns to have greeted the project so far. Netflix might be happy to splurge upwards of $100 million on plenty of blockbusters, but adding another 50 percent onto those costs ended up being way too high for the cash-happy streaming service.
As a result, genre legend Nancy Meyers’ latest was then shopped around Hollywood to try and find another buyer. That’s where David Zaslav’s Warner Bros. Discovery stepped in to the surprise of many, seeing as the newly-merged conglomerate has been trying to shave billions upon billions off the budget through a raft of cost-cutting measures.
While scheduling conflicts have been cited as the reason, it’s difficult not to treat things a little more skeptically. After all, if it was too costly for Netflix and then got shifted over to a rival that’s been in the news for canceling projects left, right, and center, there may be more going on under the hood than simply trying to wrangle a star-studded cast and a legendary filmmaker together on set at the same time.
Maybe one day Paris Paramount will rise from the ashes in a phoenix-like fashion, but don’t hold your breath.