“The Irishman,” the latest true-crime story from legendary director Martin Scorsese, is reportedly on its way to Netflix after the streaming service offered a cool $105 million for the production and distribution rights to the Film. The film, based on the book “I Heard You Paint Houses,” will star Scorsese’s closest collaborator Robert De Niro as mob hitman Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran, who apparently has some secret insider information regarding the mysterious disappearance and killing of Jimmy Hoffa.
Netflix snapped up the rights after original financier pulled out
The rights to “The Irishman” were up for grabs after its Mexican financier Fabrica de Cine pulled out. Their reason for pulling out might have been that Scorsese raised the budget from $100 million to $150 million so he could make the actors appear younger in some scenes (which will probably look really creepy if done poorly), hot on the heels of Scorsese’s “Silence” bombing at the box office. Fabrica de Cine put up $50 million for “Silence” and took a loss on its meek returns.
However, Netflix appear to have no such qualms as they’re happily putting up a total of $255 million for “The Irishman,” since they’re taking in more money than they know what to do with from everyone’s nominal subscription fees, so they figure why not funnel it into producing quality original content?
And if that attracts more subscribers because it’s the only place they can get exclusive films starring Adam Sandler and Kevin James and now the great Robert De Niro, then even better!
Many legal issues stand in Netflix’s way
Before Netflix can pull the trigger on “The Irishman,” there are deals to be worked out with STX, who have already put up $50 million for the film’s development and accumulated $40 million in tax break and incentive deals.
Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures still have the domestic distribution rights, which they bought for $15 million. There’s a lot of money going around Hollywood, it seems. Netflix is looking for worldwide distribution rights, so they’ll need to find a way to rub out STX.
“The Irishman” is total Oscar bait. It’s a true story, it’s De Niro, it’s Scorsese, and it’s going to co-star Academy favourites Al Pacino and Joe Pesci.
This appeal is what created the bidding war over it at Cannes (a war that involved Lionsgate, who have just had a hit with “John Wick: Chapter 2”). Netflix could be looking to undermine Paramount using their recent management shakeup with the departure of Brad Grey, and will most likely emerge with the worldwide rights they’re after.
