Word around Hollywood is that Jordan Peele didn’t take losing Weapons lightly, and now, people are connecting the dots between that and his sudden firing of his longtime managers. So, what really went down? Here are all the details.
Has Jordan Peele fired his team for losing Weapons rights?
Weapons, the upcoming film by Zach Cregger, has everyone talking. The movie, which follows a haunting mystery about 17 missing children, is set to premiere on August 8 and has already scored a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes from early critics.
Jordan Peele reportedly wanted it badly. So, through his production company Monkeypaw, Peele tried to acquire the project alongside Universal during a bidding war. He reportedly believed in the script enough to consider backing it with a portion of his own backend deal. Despite that, Warner Bros.’ New Line Cinema secured the rights with a massive $38 million offer, about $7 million more than Universal’s.
Soon after New Line locked the deal, Peele split from Artists First–specifically from his managers Joel Zadak and Peter Principato. Here’s where it gets messy: Principato also represents Cregger, who walked away from the deal with a life-changing project and a major studio behind him.
That overlap led to rumors that Peele felt sidelined in favor of another client. One rumor is that he blamed his managers for not securing Weapons and ultimately fired them over the loss. Another says he was given a chance to match New Line’s offer but backed out with Universal over concerns about the film’s steep budget.
Meanwhile, Cregger opened up about the tension in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, saying, “It was stressful. People might think that I was flinging dollar bills in the air and calling enemies and saying, ‘F**k you.’ The truth of the matter was it’s a very high-pressure thing.” He further added, “People were getting pissed, and it was stressful.”
So far, no one involved has confirmed the exact reason for Peele’s firing of his team.
