Baz Luhrmann Signs First Look Deal with Warner Bros Pictures

Fresh off his Elvis biopic receiving eight Oscar nominations, Baz Luhrmann has signed a first look deal with Warner Brothers Pictures.

Deadline reports that the deal will involve Luhrmann developing and directing original feature material. He is also allowed to direct outisde projects as well.

Oscar-nominated Baz Luhrmann is a master storyteller and pioneer of contemporary visual culture, writing, directing, and producing across film, opera, theatre, events and music. His signature blend of drama, romance, decadence and wit fuses high and low culture, a unique sonic and cinematic language and trademark theatrical aesthetic that continuously captivates audiences and ignites imaginations around the world.

Nominated for three Golden Globes and seven Critics Choice Awards and one of AFI's Top 10 Films of 2022, Elvis has become the filmmaker's highest grossing film in the U.S. and in 22 international territories, including the UK, Mexico, Holland, Brazil and New Zealand. Elvis is also 2022's highest-grossing non-franchise/IP film.

Luhrmann burst onto the scene with the first of the Red Curtain Trilogy, Strictly Ballroom, followed by the ambitious modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Academy Award-winning Moulin Rouge!, which cemented Luhrmann's following amongst audiences and industry alike.

In addition, Moulin Rouge! The Musical won 10 TONY AWARDS (the most of the 2020-2019 season), adding to the two TONY AWARDS garnered by Luhrmann's production of Puccini's opera La Bohème on Broadway in 2003.

The filmmaker's sweeping historical epic Australia was followed by his adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which won two Academy Awards. A collaboration with Netflix later produced The Get Down (2016), a critically successful series based on the birth of hip-hop in 1970s South Bronx.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos