JJ Abrams is making moves. The Star Wars and Star Trek director and his company Bad Robot have signed a massive new deal with Warner Bros. to make movies, TV shows, and video games. A press release describes the deal as being "wide-ranging" and "exclusive" in nature. It begins immediately, and runs through 2024. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but media reports from several sources say WarnerBros. paid Abrams and his Bad Robot co-CEO Katie McGrath a massive $250 million. "We are extremely excited about the potential to deliver remarkable and memorable stories and characters across multiple platforms to audiences around the world. J.J., Katie, and all of Bad Robot bring extraordinary vision, exquisite filmmaking, and exemplary industry leadership to this endeavor and our company," WarnerMedia CEO John Stankey said in a statement. Abrams and WarnerMedia have been working together for a long time already, having initially signed an "overall" deal in 2006 before renewing the TV components of it in 2012 and 2015. Under those deals, Bad Robot produced shows like Fringe, Person of Interest, and Westworld. "I am grateful for the chance to write, produce and direct work for this incredible company, and to help create films and series with a diverse and vast collection of inspiring storytellers. We can't wait to get started," Abrams said in a statement. As part of the deal, Bad Robot will produce more TV shows in the genres of drama, comedy, and longform, among others, and these will be produced for traditional TV and streaming services alike. WarnerMedia owns HBO, so you can expect some of the content to show up on HBO's platforms. As for the new movies Bad Robot will produce for WarnerMedia, the press release states that they be exclusive to Warner Bros. labels. Bad Robot is currently working with Disney on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and is attached to Paramount for future Star Trek endeavors, and WarnerMedia said it will "honor existing obligations" around those projects. Moving to video games, Bad Robot's video game division, Bad Robot Games, will make "new large and indie consumer games for mobile, PC, and console." Bad Robot Games is a joint partnership with Chinese internet giant Tencent and Warner Bros.' larger video game division, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Abrams was working on a video game with Fortnite creator Epic Games called Spyjinx. However, there have been no recent updates on the game. In fact, the game's Twitter account hasn't posted in nearly two years. It remains to be seen if Bad Robot's new deal with WarnerMedia may impact Spyjinx. We've contacted Epic in an attempt to get more details.
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