Apple Studios has landed the hot movie package starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt with Jon Watts directing that’s been the subject of a feverish bidding war, according to two sources with knowledge of the project.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” director Watts will write, direct and produce with Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures and Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment producing. Lionsgate, Sony, Netflix, Universal, Amazon, Annapurna Pictures and Warner Bros. are also said to have circled the project that would see a reunion of the “Ocean’s Eleven” stars.
According to Deadline, which broke the news of the acquisition, a theatrical release is also part of the agreement.
Although most plot details are currently under wraps, the film is said to focus on two fixers who get the same gig.
The Pitt-Clooney vehicle is the latest addition to a growing line-up of films from Apple Studios. The Antoine Fuqua-directed “Emancipation,” starring and produced by Will Smith, and Martin Scorsese’s western “Killers of the Flower Moon” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are also on the horizon.
Pitt and Clooney also re-teamed for the Coen brothers’ 2008 comedy “Burn After Reading.” Clooney is directing Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan in “The Tender Bar” for Amazon. The film is set to open on Dec. 17.
Watts has directed all three of the most recent Spider-Man films. His latest entry, “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” debuts this winter.
Clooney, Pitt, and Watts are repped by CAA. Clooney is also repped by Lichter Grossman, Pitt is also repped by Brillstein Entertainment Partners and Goodman Genow, and Watts is also repped by Ziffren Brittenham.
J. Kim Murphy contributed to this report.