After months of speculation, it is finally done! J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot banner have closed a massive five-year deal for him to keep his TV business and move his film business under the WarnersMedia umbrella. The pact, which runs through 2024, also includes games and digital content.
The process of grabbing J.J. Abrams began last fall with various media outlets vying for his services. The all-encompassing deal is said to be worth about $500 million. It wasn’t until June that WarnersMedia emerged as a clear frontrunner for Abrams and this was mostly thanks to the shorthand Abrams had developed with the Warner Bros TV team over the past 13 years, and a massive financial commitment by parent WarnerMedia. It took a couple of months to work the deal out due to figure out the ins and outs of ending Abrams’ Paramount Pictures movie pact. Under his exit agreement, Bad Robot will honor its existing Paramount obligations.
Other than WarnersMedia, Apple was said to be in the mix before this final deal was made as well as Comcast/NBCUniversal and Sony. Abrams’ long history with WarnerMedia is ultimately what swayed this decision. Bad Robot had been based at Warner Bros. TV since 2006, delivering a string of series. Of the company’s current shows, three are at WarnerMedia’s HBO, Westworld, Lovecraft Country, and Demimonde, the first series Abrams has solely created since Alias, with the premium network also developing Bad Robot’s They Both Die At the End. The company also has three series at Apple TV+ via Warner Bros. TV, which also pursued aggressively the multi-hyphenated: the Stephen King adaptation Lisey’s Story, starring Julianne Moore; Sara Bareilles’ Little Voice; and My Glory Was I Had Such Friends, toplined by Jennifer Garner.
Apple will work with Abrams in some capacity, just not through an overall deal. His pact with WarnersMedia will keep allowing Bad Robot to produce for outside networks. On the feature side, Abrams and Bad Robot will develop original theatrical films for the divisions of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, including Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema.
