The new Paramount owned by Skydance has made it official that Stranger Things architects, the Duffer brothers and their Upside Down Pictures label, are officially coming over to the Melrose Ave lot in a wide-ranging four-year, exclusive deal for feature films, television, and streaming projects. We told you about the new big deal for the David Ellison led Paramount last week.
The big plus here for the Duffers is that they now get to make movies for the big screen.
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Their new deal at Paramount starts at the end of their current deal with Netflix in April 2026. At the end of their Netflix deal, the Duffers will remain involved in Stranger Things and other existing projects in development at the OTT service.
The multi-Emmy nominated Duffers will write, direct, and produce feature films, TV, and original series for Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television, and Paramount Direct-to-Consumer. Their Upside Down Pictures production company is led by producing partner and president, Hilary Leavitt. It’s no coincidence that the first big deal under the David Ellison led Paramount is with the Duffers, as the duo have worked with Cindy Holland, Paramount’s Chair of Direct-to-Consumer and Matt Thunell, President of Paramount Television, at Netflix.
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Said Matt and Ross Duffer: “We couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining the Paramount family. David, Josh, and Dana are passionate about bringing bold, original films to the big screen. To be part of that mission is not just exciting – it’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. And to do so at a studio with such a storied Hollywood legacy is a privilege we don’t take lightly. We’re also excited to reunite with our friends Cindy and Matt, who were among the very first to believe in us and an unusual little script we wrote that became Stranger Things. They took a chance on us in 2015, and they’re taking a chance again – we can’t wait to create new stories together.”
“Our time at Netflix has been incredible. Ted, Bela, and Peter have given us the kind of creative freedom and support that artists dream of but so rarely receive. A decade in, they are family. We’re excited to continue collaborating – not only on the upcoming release of Stranger Things 5, but also on shows we’re deeply proud to be producing, including Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen and The Boroughs. And we look forward to building out the future of Stranger Things together – there are many more stories to tell beyond Hawkins, and we can’t wait to share them,” the brothers added.
“I’ve had the privilege of knowing Matt and Ross for over a decade and worked with them from their earliest stages through their deserving global success. We have seen firsthand their extraordinary creative vision and exceptional gift for storytelling,” said Cindy Holland, Paramount’s Chair of Direct-to-Consumer. “We couldn’t be more excited to reunite and welcome them to Paramount.”
“We are thrilled that the incomparable Duffer Brothers are joining our Paramount family,” said Dana Goldberg, Co-Chair of Paramount Pictures and Chair of Paramount Television, and Josh Greenstein, Co-Chair of Paramount Pictures and Vice Chair of Platforms. “Their singular talent for creating stories and worlds that shape culture sets them apart, and this partnership is a great example of the new Paramount in action – our film, television, and streaming businesses united to offer Matt and Ross the full power of our platforms to tell their best and most ambitious stories yet.”
New Paramount Motion Picture heads Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein told the press last week that there are plans for 15 to 20 movies to be released annually. Paramount already has production pacts with such talent as Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Damien Chazelle, Temple Hill and Walter Hamada’s genre studio 18hz.
Four years – they should be able to produce at least eight episodes of stellar programming.
To be honest, this feels like a financial win for Netflix at the very least. But, I won’t mind if I’m proven wrong.
I’ve always wondered why they weren’t able to produce a single thing outside Stranger Things in ten years. I’ll be curious what they come up with.
Well, the answer after 10 years is no… so…
A couple of suits gave a shot to some new-ish writers with an original story and no “name” talent and 10 years later its still paying dividends. There’s a lesson there, people.
Excuse me ST only got the attention it got when it premiered because it was Winona’s comeback
I mean they might as well call film school “camp broken spirit” we all gave so much of ourselves to break in or even just have a seat at the table and it’s just abusive all around, it’s feels like it’s all about short sighted garbage like get rich quick horror crap or giving hundreds of millions away to have a cool director or whatever on your streaming service… I don’t know if it’s a matter of space for everyone in the field but it feels like a terrible generational hangover where no new artists come in and somehow it’s “still not enough” for seniors so to speak – yes there are these one off stories of people like the Duffer brothers and these stories are literally about people who knocked on every door plus 10 more – somehow- these are the literal JK Rowling stories… and everyone’s so shocked and glad the work someone made it through but honestly… who has time to knock on every damn door when people act like it’s the biggest favor in the world for a talented artist/writer/director to share their scripts or ideas… I mean I feel like it’s he culture is that nobody wants to read anything at the higher ups because they don’t want to pass on whatever it by mistake… its beyond.
It was never easy to get in, and was never supposed to be.
I’d sure like to know what this lesson is, besides Netflix pays millions for mediocre ‘content’ as they move to call it. It’s fitting that Skydance is now the one to pay millions for mediocre content. skydance is the king of mediocre, big budget flops.
What suits would those be?
They all passed on them. The whole town did.
And then the suits took it once Shawn Levy was on board.
So in actuality, the suits could have paid a lot less for it than they did but if they got paid to take risks, they wouldn’t be a suit.
The big lesson here is:
Don’t ever let anyone (agents, managers, etc) tell you that your project is never going to happen.
We need more creative execs that are passionate about producing.
hope they do better than Benioff and Weiss.
like the Duffers, they were riding high with a hugely successful show and got a big money film + tv deal.
they’ve done nothing of note since.
This shows how Netflix stuff is just culturally irrelevant. 3 Body Problem had a ton of hype and likely a lot of “views” but no body remembers it
The Netflix Benioff/Weiss deal was one of most embarrassing deals in history.
This will complete the trilogy of mega production deal shame along with JJ Abrams/ WB and Benioff/Weiss