George Clooney And Brad Pitt To Reunite In New Film For Spider-Man Director Jon Watts
Always vote with your wallet, folks. In recent years, mainstream moviegoing audiences have seemed to indicate a general preference for consistent and reliable franchises over the appeal of genuine movie stars who used to be able to put butts in seats with their names alone. However, that's not stopping studios from trying to get their hands on the latest project featuring George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who will be reuniting on-screen for the first time since 2007. Director Jon Watts, who has gained prominence through the MCU "Spider-Man" movies, will helm this new movie that has reportedly become the epicenter of an intense bidding war. Maybe there's still a hint of Old Hollywood within the current industry, after all!
High Watt-age
The early 2000s don't seem that long ago, but the days when an excellent "Ocean's Eleven" remake could launch a trilogy of movies that gained box office success on the strength of its star-studded cast alone just might be over — even if the pandemic hadn't hit and completely upended moviegoing habits even further. That's why this latest news feels like such an unexpected throwback. According to The Hollywood Reporter, no less a group of hopefuls than Sony, Lionsgate, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Annapurna, Universal, MGM, and Warner Bros. are among the studios (and streamers) attempting to outbid each other for the rights to distribute this buzzy new film.
Starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt and directed by "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Far From Home," and "No Way Home" filmmaker Jon Watts, little else is known about the plot of the movie other than the report describing it as following "two lone wolf fixers assigned to the same job." That description immediately calls to mind another Clooney-starring vehicle in "Michael Clayton," which similarly focused on Clooney as a "fixer" for wealthy and high-profile clients. While that must-watch 2007 film was written and directed by Tony Gilroy, Watts is the perhaps surprising choice to write, direct, and produce this new original movie. Watts' early film "Cop Car" certainly showed promise, impressing Sony and Marvel enough to hand over the reins for their crown jewel Spider-Man series, but it's also fair to say that Watts' strengths as a storyteller were somewhat hampered by the constrictions of blockbuster filmmaking on such a large scale.
Watts' next project will be "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and he also has Marvel's "Fantastic Four" reboot on his busy schedule, so it remains to be seen when exactly he'll be able to tackle this project as well. Suffice to say, however, I might be looking forward to this one far more than any of his superhero movie projects. Stay tuned to /Film as we bring you more updates on this film as they come in.