Netflix has been making big inroads to acquire original content to go alongside the back catalogues it buys up. The company has made plenty of moves with TV, but is ramping up its efforts to make movies, dropping cash on deals with the likes of Adam Sandler and Idris Elba. Now it has made its biggest commitment yet, grabbing distribution rights to War Machine, which will star Brad Pitt.
Animal Kingdom and The Rover’s director David Michôd will be behind the camera, and he’s also adapted the script from late journalist Michael Hastings’ book The Operators: The Wild And Terrifying Inside Story Of America’s War In Afghanistan. Pitt will star as a top general in the US armed forces, overseeing the conflict and a mission that is riddled with problems, corruption and cock-ups. It’s all loosely based on General Stanley McChrystal, who oversaw the US operation in Afghanistan and thought himself the bee’s knees until he badmouthed the White House, was recalled and resigned.
Netflix aims to stump up the $30 million budget for the film, with a brief planned cinema run and then a late 2016 appointment with the company’s widespread streaming service. “War Machine is a rip-roaring, behind-the-facade tale of modern war decision-makers, from the corridors of power to the distant regions of America’s ambitions,” Ted Netflix chief content officer tells Deadline. “Brad and David are a perfect team to make this timely, compelling and entertaining film.” It’s yet another sign of how the business is shifting, and if it works – which might be tough to tell, given how reticent Netflix tends to be about talking figures – expect more big names to consider this sort of deal.
However it works out, we'd pay good money to see it include an hour of Don Cheadle improvising anecdotes about missions as a very different War Machine...