EXCLUSIVE: Leave it to the franchise featuring the coolest private eye to come up with an inventive way of potentially changing the model for how certain urban-themed movie get financed and distributed. Sources say that New Line and Netflix are nearly closed on the untitled Shaft reboot. Netflix will pay more than half the film’s high $30 million budget, in exchange for international rights and the ability to put the film on its streaming outside the U.S. two weeks after New Line releases theatrically in the United States. The film will begin production in December.

New Line and Netflix were not commenting, but sources said the film will follow a traditional domestic roll out from theatrical to SVOD and DVD through the Warner Bros machine. That ought to spare the film from becoming an issue for theater chains that try to make the film wait 90 days to exploit ancillary markets.

The deal, which has been in the works for the past several weeks, can be a useful template for makers of urban-themed or genre fare that normally does most of its theatrical business in the United States. What the deal does in particular for the untitled movie is, it gives director Tim Story more money to make the film than he otherwise would have gotten from New Line.

For Netflix, the deal will give its international membership a film that is still hot in the U.S. While there are exceptions, urban themed films turn the bulk of profit in the U.S. The recent summer sleeper, the $19 million Girls Trip, grossed a robust $115 million domestic, and has generated an extra $20 million offshore. This despite the fact that many movies rely on overseas for 75% of their global box office gross.

The Shaft reboot has a script by black-ish creator Kenya Barris, and will star Samuel L. Jackson in the role of John Shaft, who in 2000 played the nephew of the New York City private eye first seen in the Gordon Parks-directed 1971 action classic. Independence Day: Resurgence and Staz’ Survivor’s Remorse star Jessie T. Usher is set to play Shaft’s son, this after a long search to fill a potential star making role. He will play a young cyber expert FBI agent who, despite being estranged from his father, is forced to work with him on a case. It becomes a collision between old school and new school. Richard Roundtree is also expected to reprise his iconic role, as he did in the John Singleton-directed 2000 film.

The Shaft reboot is produced by Davis Entertainment’s John Davis and Barris.

CAA and MGMT Entertainment rep Usher; Story is repped by UTA and Barris by CAA and Principato-Young. Jackson is ICM Partners and Anonymous Content and Stone Manners Salsners Agency and Patrick McMinn Management rep Roundtree.

The Shaft reboot has a script by black-ish creator Kenya Barris,

EXCLUSIVE: Alexandra Shipp (X-Men: Apocalypse, Straight Outta Compton) is in final negotiations as the female lead in the reboot of Shaft from director Tim Story and producers John Davis and Kenya Barris. Shipp joins Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Roundtree (who starred in the original) and Jesse T. Usher. The production goes before the cameras next month.

New Line and Netflix are partnering on this film with Netflix financing or what was said to be Netflix more than half the film’s high $30M budget for international rights and will stream Shaft outside of the U.S. after New Line releases it theatrically domestically.

Shaft‘s new storyline: Working for the FBI, estranged from his father and determined not to be anything like him, John Shaft Jr. reluctantly enlists his father’s help to find out who killed his best friend Karim and bring down a drug-trafficking/money-laundering operation in NYC.

The script was written by black-ish creator Barris and Alex Barnow. Executive producers on the project are Ira Napoliello and Marc Fischer.

Shipp, who’s also in the upcoming X-Men: Dark Phoenix, is repped by WME, LINK and law firm Stone Genow.

DECEMBER 12, 2017 12:15pm PT by Ashley Lee
Regina Hall in Talks to Join Samuel L. Jackson in 'Shaft' Sequel


Regina Hall is in negotiations to join New Line's Shaft sequel, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Tim Story is directing the movie, which is seen as a continuation of the story of the private detective that first appeared in the 1970s blaxploitation action movie that became a pop culture phenomenon. Samuel L. Jackson is reprising the role he first played in John Singleton's 2000 update, with Jessie T. Usher playing Shaft's son. Hall is in talks to play Shaft's former love interest and Usher's onscreen mother. Alexandra Shipp and the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree, are among the confirmed cast.

Kenya Barris and Alex Barnow wrote the script. Barris is also producing with John Davis, with Marc Fischer and Ira Napoliello serving as executive producers. The movie is scheduled for release on June 14, 2019.

Hall most recently starred in Universal's hit comedy Girls Trip and appeared on HBO's Insecure and ABC's Blackish. Her upcoming films include Fox 2000's adaptation of The Hate U Give and Andrew Bujalski's indie comedy Support the Girls. She is represented by ICM and Principato-Young Entertainment.

“Shaft” is the next chapter in the film franchise featuring the coolest private eye on any New York City block. JJ, aka John Shaft Jr. (Usher), may be a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, but to uncover the truth behind his best friend’s untimely death, he needs an education only his dad can provide. Absent throughout JJ’s youth, the legendary locked-and-loaded John Shaft (Jackson) agrees to help his progeny navigate Harlem’s heroin-infested underbelly. And while JJ’s own FBI analyst’s badge may clash with his dad’s trademark leather coat, there’s no denying family. Besides, Shaft’s got an agenda of his own, and a score to settle that’s professional and personal.