PEELE SIGNS DEAL

Shane Morehead, Staff Writer

Since the massive success of his film, “Get Out,” Jordan Peele has been contacted by several major studios. “Get Out” has earned almost $200 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing debut from a writer-director of an original screenplay of all time. Warner Bros tried to get him to take on one of their upcoming movies without a director, such as “Uptown Saturday Night” “Akira” or “The Flash”. Peele ended up signing a deal with Universal to write and direct a new social thriller. The movie will have a budget of $25 million, which is five times the budget of “Get Out.” He will also be working on a broad range of micro-budget side projects with “Get Out” producer Jason Blum. Peele chose to sign with Universal because they were the studio that helped him get “Get Out” off the ground. Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions will work with him on the film.  Peele and his productions company tell unique stories across several genres. Monkeypaw produced “Keanu” which featured a cat as a main character. Peele is most well known for co-creating TV hit “Key and Peele.” “Get Out” became something of a cultural phenomenon because of the way it used race as a theme in such an interesting way. The movies that he makes with Universal, and maybe even other studios in the future, are expected to be just as unique and head-turning as “Get Out,” and his other projects.