Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon may be distributed by Netflix or Apple due to rising production costs. Reuniting the director with his famous muses, Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, the project's been in development for a few years now. DiCaprio officially signed on back in 2018, with De Niro joining the cast a year later. Of course, Scorsese spent much of that time working on The Irishman, his critically acclaimed crime epic that earned several accolades last year. With that long-gestating passion project finally behind him, Scorsese can now turn his attention to Killers of the Flower Moon.
One of the many reasons why The Irishman was a notable release is because it was Scorsese's first feature for Netflix. Initially set up at Paramount, the studio eventually passed on the project over budgetary concerns. The Irishman boasted a rather hefty price tag thanks to the extensive amounts of visual effects work required to digitally de-age its veteran cast. And now, as Scorsese puts the pieces in place for his next film, it looks like history is bound to repeat itself.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Paramount is having second thoughts about backing Killers of the Flower Moon, citing the film's $200 million production budget. As a result, it's possible Apple or Netflix picks it up instead. Scorsese's also contacted Universal and MGM about distribution. It is important to mention nothing is finalized at this point in time and Paramount could remain involved by teaming up with a co-financier.
The Killers of the Flower Moon situation is virtually identical to what happened on The Irishman. While any studio would definitely like to work with Scorsese, it's understandable why Paramount would be getting cold feet. $200 million is typically a budget reserved for massive franchise tentpole fare guaranteed to be a huge draw at the box office (like Marvel and Star Wars movies). Scorsese is obviously a beloved cinematic icon, but only one film of his (The Wolf of Wall Street) earned more than $300 million worldwide, unadjusted for inflation. Going by the general rule of thumb (a movie has to make twice its budget to break even), Killers of the Flower Moon would need to gross $400 million just to make its money back. That's a tall order - even for a Scorsese vehicle starring DiCaprio and De Niro - so it might make business sense for Paramount to pass on it.
Things obviously worked well between Scorsese and Netflix on The Irishman (which garnered 10 Oscar nominations), so it would be logical for the two parties to continue their partnership on Killers of the Flower Moon. At the same time, Apple is aiming to release awards-worthy movies on the Apple TV+ streaming service, so it'll be interesting to see what kind of offer they make to Scorsese. Based on the pedigree of the talent involved, Killers of the Flower Moon sounds like it'll be another Academy favorite, meaning someone will likely jump on the project. Scorsese can use the coronavirus Hollywood delays to iron out distribution for the film, and then move forward on Killers of the Flower Moon when things return to normal.
Source: The Wall Street Journal