Netflix Is Making Brad Pitt’s Next Movie. Not Fox, or Sony, or Paramount. Netflix.

Last year, Brad Pitt announced that his production company, Plan B, was going to make an adaptation of the Michael Hastings Afghanistan War book The Operators. In it, Pitt would play General Stanley A. McCrystal, the commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan who was forced to resign in 2010 after he was quoted making fun of President Obama and Vice President Biden in a piece by Hastings for Rolling Stone. 

Sounds serious, huh? Well, that's what New Regency and RatPack Entertainment thought when they signed up to produce the project. Then they found out that Pitt and director David Michod weren't looking to make a compelling war drama like American Sniper that would appeal to the good folks in America's heartland. They wanted to make a satirical comedy that would appeal to all those liberal elites on the coasts. So when Pitt and Michod asked for a $60 million budget, New Regency and RatPack were like, uh, no.  

Enter Netflix. The world's number one streaming service doesn't face the same set of economic constraints as mainstream studios, who have to cast as wide a net as possible to maximize profits. Netflix can make lots of money with niche content, so long as its premium. And And what could be more premium than Brad Pitt? 

So Netflix, a streaming company, plunked down $60 million, and now they have themselves an exclusive Brad Pitt movie.

These are some crazy times. 

[via Hollywood Reporter]