No One Wants to Pay $130M For a Rom-Com, Even With Scarlett Johansson In It
Netflix starts to be more cautious with its budgeting.
A good rom-com is exactly what the world needs in times of uncertainty.
Especially the one from Nancy Meyers, an amazing filmmaker who gave the viewers such masterpieces as The Parent Trap, The Holiday and It's Complicated.
Known for the great casting choices and heartfelt dialogue, Meyers was working on a new project for Netflix. The next romantic comedy was supposed to get a budget of $130M, up until Netflix had it dropped.
The movie with the working title Paris Paramount was supposed to tell a beautiful Hollywood-inspired story of a filmmaking duo who reunite on set after falling in and out of love together.
As beautiful as it sounds, the production cost of such a story was too high for Netflix to carry on with it.
It seems like the production was canceled because of financial issues. According to Deadline, the initial cost of $130M although high was doable for Netflix, but Meyers has requested more, so the studio had to draw the line.
Surely, every movie production requires a lot of money, especially when such huge names as Scarlett Johansson, Owen Wilson, Penelope Cruz, and Michael Fassbender are included, but there are some limits.
The internet seems to side with Netflix on this matter, saying that the budget for romantic comedies should not be as expensive.
Since the story, based on the description alone, doesn't require battle scenes, the building of large decorations, and animation, the number doesn't sit right with people.
As of now, there is no news on whether the movie will be picked up by another studio.
Both fans of the Nancy Meyers writing and fans of the cast involved in the shooting process are hoping to see this film come to big screens one day but it might be hard to do without cutting some costs.
Keep an eye out for further updates on this story!