‘Game of Thrones’ movie in the works after acclaimed screenwriter submits prequel script to Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. has a “Game of Thrones” film in development and has enlisted “House of Cards” showrunner Beau Willimon, who has already submitted an initial draft, Page Six Hollywood has learned. But it’s an open question whether the “GOT” project will see the light of day given the uncertainty surrounding Warner Bros. current slate now that Paramount Skydance has started the process of acquiring the storied Burbank studio.
Sources tell P6H that WBD’s leadership team was pumped on Willimon’s draft, and that the storyline may center on Aegon I, who spawned the Targaryen dynasty and united six of the seven kingdoms through bloody conquest about 300 years before the original “Game of Thrones” pilot. “All of ‘Game of Thrones’ stems back to him, and you’ve never seen him on any of the shows,” says a source familiar with the project.
Beau Willimon at the 2024 Writers Guild Awards at The Edison Ballroom in New York City. Variety via Getty Images
Across the entertainment industry, there are plenty of people just like Willimon who have a vested interest in figuring out how Warner Bros. plans to spend over the next 12 to 18 months.
The town appears to be splitting down typical lines.
The pessimists argue that the Burbank lot and its current slate — with a few exceptions — will likely be put on ice while the regulatory process plays out in the Paramount Skydance acquisition. “Mike and Pam might try and accelerate the projects that they love, but there probably isn’t much,” says a top manager. “So much depends on the amount of autonomy Warners maintains.”
The optimists are saying, not so fast. “They have to spend,” says one agent with a roster of A-listers. Added another top exec at a streamer: “They’re going to have to keep the lights on so I don’t see them slowing down.”
The glass-half-full crowd might have a point. Eight days before Warner Bros. Discovery accepted David Ellison’s $111 billion mega-offer, the studio hired Mike Ireland to be president of production, an expensive role that was already occupied by Jesse Ehrman, who’s well-liked and known as a capable executive.
The addition of Ireland (who ironically was let go as head of Paramount’s motion picture group by current Paramount Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein shortly after Skydance acquired Paramount in August) would suggest that Mike DeLuca and Pam Abdy planned to keep their foot on the accelerator after a stellar year at the box office.
It’s an open question whether the “GOT” project will see the light of day given the uncertainty surrounding Warner Bros. current slate now that Paramount Skydance has started the process of acquiring the storied Burbank Studio.
“It is weird,” says one veteran producer. “How were new people allowed to be brought in?” Adds a studio insider: “It’s stunning to me that they were allowed to do this. Why do you need to layer on that high level of an executive.”
Regardless, it would appear to be business as usual over at Warner Bros. as a number of massive budget movies head toward production, namely “The Batman II” and a “Minecraft” sequel. Sources tell P6H that James Gunn’s “Superman” sequel will begin shooting on April 17 in Atlanta, while the next “Minecraft” is on track for a May 1 start date in New Zealand. Also fully cast and ready to go is the Robert Pattinson “Batman” follow-up, which starts production on May 29 in London, sources say. There’s also a $90 million untitled Nancy Meyers rom-com which starts shooting in May.
For a studio that will almost certainly take home the best picture Oscar for either “One Battle After Another” or “Sinners,” the bar is set incredibly high for what comes next. The aforementioned projects are all incredibly pricey, but the studio has several less expensive projects like a “Conjuring” prequel, dated for September 2027 which is a priority. That film, from producer James Wan, is a go, insiders say. At least for now.
On the TV front, HBO chief Casey Bloys boasts the two most valuable assets with “Game of Thrones” and “Harry Potter.” With “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” which launched in January, Bloys proved that spending big isn’t always necessary for success. One knowledgeable source says the series costs $8 million to $10 million per episode (no dragons or epic sets). By contrast, “It: Welcome to Derry,” which bowed on HBO in October, cost a “crazy” $18 million per episode and found little traction in the zeitgeist, although it did garner a sizable audience. (No decision has been made on a second season). “White Lotus” has held its place in the cultural conversation — despite being original and not based on well-known intellectual property — as it heads into production in France for Season 4. As for its budget, one agent pegs it at less than $10 million per episode.
With austerity measures looming (eventually), the studio will likely lean into the “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” playbook and its price point. Still, the soon-to-be-swallowed Warners is sparing no expense when it comes to crown jewel “Harry Potter,” which is currently in production in the UK, and will have a budget on par with the first season of “Game of Thrones.” With no A-listers attached, the above-the-line costs are minimal. Instead, Warners sank huge sums into building massive sets and a school at Leavesden, the 200-acre studio complex north of London. Those costs would be amortized across multiple seasons of the show (with seven books, there’s plenty of material to work with) making it money well spent. There’s little doubt that one year from now, it will be the biggest show on the planet, just in time for the Ellisons to seize the throne.
