Just last month, we reported that that Netflix had paused pre-production Antoine Fuqua’s Hannibal. Denzel Washington was to have led the historical epic biopic about the ancient Carthaginian general.
The film was scheduled to shoot later this year in Italy, with Fuqua directing John Logan’s script.
The pause was so that producers and the studio could work on the budget.
The movie was coming in at around $200 million for Netflix. There is a new economic reality starting to stalk Hollywood. Nobody is on “Free Vend” anymore. Budgets have to come down, and down further than anyone would have liked.
The summer is littered with highly expensive flops.
It seems they have been unable to find a way to do it cheaper. The film’s cinematographer Robert Richardson was appearing at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and told Deadline the project:
“…fell through just two weeks ago…”
In a follow up with The Playlist he commented that it is:
“…effectively dead…”
The movie would have followed the famed military leader as he waged war against the Roman Republic.
During the Second Punic War, he famously invaded Rome while riding a Northern African war elephant across the Alps.
It is now all bad news for Fuqua, as he will now be expected to move straight onto the Michael sequel over at Lionsgate.
