Martin Scorsese’s next project has been dubbed one of the darkest conspiracy plots in American history and it is based on a true story. The movie is based on the best-selling book by the same name, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and The Birth of the FBI.”
It’s clear that Scorsese plans to move forward with this project despite the cost associated with the movie. Moves have already been made; casting is underway he just needs a production company. And in order to fuel the project he is seeking $225 Million from Apple and Netflix Investors.
The $225M Budget might not seem like a lot for a film, Marvel Movies budgets are easily over $200M, “Avengers: End Game” alone was $356M, but those are superhero movies with special effects, CGI and more production enhancements outside of shooting that increase the costs. Even “The Irishman”, a film directed and produced by Scorsese, didn’t even top this budget. “The Irishman: Budget was recorded at $159 Million and the cost was largely due to the CGI enhancements and de-aging technology that it applied in post-production.
But what is causing the $225M Budget? Based on the premise, there will not be any major fight sequences, large special effects re-shoots or CGI technology – what could be causing the increase in spend? Many are speculating that Scorsese is aiming to shoot on an actual reservation, which would mean part of the film cost would be to pay the reservation fees.
Martin Scorsese quickly grabbed up the rights to the popular 2017 novel “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI” and has already cast Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro in the lead roles.
The Novel was written by journalist David Grann and is written as a non-fiction account of the investigation into the real murders of the Osage Native Americans throughout a span of five years from 1921-1926. The book follows the Osage Native Americans as the government discovers that there is oil on their lands. As they continue to look into the land and the reservations hold over the oil, they begin to discover that Native Americans are slowly being killed off in order for outside settlers to inherit their oil and money. The investigation into these murders is marked as the beginning of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under a young J. Edgar Hoover.
This “Based on a True Story” narrative has potential, but its large budget has its original studio backing out. “Killers of the Flower Moon” was originally going to be backed by Paramount, but once Scorsese unveiled the budget, they have backed away from their original investment stating that it’s not something they are ready to pursue. Hence, Netflix and Apple.
Netflix and Apple are notoriously known for having large pockets to invest in these projects. Netflix has already taken the gamble with Scorsese back in 2018 when he first pitched “The Irishman” screenplay. The gamble paid off, Netflix reported that 26 million subscribers streamed the movie within the first week. According to Netflix’s COO, Ted Sarrandos, the 26 million streams accounted for viewers that viewed at least 70% of the movie. This was seen as a win with Netflix and could potentially open the doors for another large investment, continuing a partnership with Scorsese moving forward.
Movie Production states that they are in the process of scouting locations for filming and the film is set to release in 2021. Stay tuned on for an announcement on a studio that will snag up the rights to release. This movie will be sure to make waves upon its premier, already sparking awards buzz prior to even filming.
And that’s the sitch.
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