New Line Cinema is reportedly close to a major game-changing deal with Netflix over the forthcoming production of Tim Story's new Shaft installation. The film was announced with the addition of Independence Day: Resurgence actor Jesse T. Usher leading the cast with Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree, all back and reprising their roles based on Gordon Parks's inaugural 1971 action classic and John Singleton's subsequent 2000 reboot.
Provided the closure of the deal according to Deadline, Netflix is pony up more than half of the film's $30 million-dollar budget in exchange for international streaming rights outside the U.S. two weeks after its U.S. theatrical release from New Line. The maneuver will then follow through on SVoD and DVD plans with Warner Bros to further stave off clashing interests with theatrical exhibitors in lieu of 90-day wait for ancillary home releases.
According to the report, the deal also stems from a general appeal to movies with a black or diverse cast of actors "urban" titles like the $115 million dollar-grossing female comedy line-up, Girls Trip which Black-ish creator Kenya Barris co-scribed for director Malcolm D. Lee.
Davis Entertainment's own John Davis is producing the film along with Barris whose script will see Usher as the once estranged son of Jackson's character, an FBI agent and a cyber expert forced to reluctantly pair up with his father, ensuing a clash between the old school and new school ways of crimefighting. Park's original film, heralded by its popular title track from award-winning recording artist Isaac Hayes, was a phenomenon with Roundtree starring in the title role - a badass New York detective who infiltrates the criminal underworld to rescue a mob boss's daughter.
Cameras are expected to roll in December.
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