\n\tHow the mighty Robot has faltered. <\/p>\n
\n\tJ.J. Abrams<\/a>\u2019 Bad Robot<\/a> production banner is slimming down operations<\/a> and relocating to New York after more than 20 years in Los Angeles and Santa Monica. The trimming of the sails comes amid a particularly rocky run for Bad Robot, with several ambitious projects featuring high-wattage talent getting a hard pass or stuck in development hell.<\/p>\n Most recently, those have included a \u201cJustice League Dark\u201d series that would have tied in with shows built around DC characters; \u201cOverlook,\u201d a prequel to \u201cThe Shining\u201d; and the crime drama \u201cDuster.\u201d Abrams also got a series order at HBO Max in 2021 for the thriller \u201cSubject to Change.\u201d<\/p>\n Of those projects, only \u201cDuster\u201d made it to air for one season. Bad Robot also produced the animated series \u201cBatman: Caped Crusader,\u201d which was set up at HBO Max before being scrapped and later sold to Amazon. Then there was the planned big-budget fantasy vehicle for HBO, \u201cDemimonde,\u201d that had a series order and Danielle Deadwyler attached. But by the end of 2022 it was axed amid David Zaslav\u2019s cost-cutting campaign at Warner Bros. and HBO. <\/p>\n \n\tFilm output from Bad Robot has been lackluster. It was seven years ago that Abrams assumed the mantle of \u201cStar Wars\u201d and delivered \u201cThe Rise of Skywalker,\u201d a billion-dollar grosser that cost about half that to make. The chasm since has been filled with left-field docs like \u201cElizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes\u201d and streaming actioners like \u201cLou.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tThe bespectacled Abrams will finally reemerge this year as the producer of Anne Hathaway\u2019s \u201cThe End of Oak Street\u201d and as director on Glen Powell\u2019s \u201cThe Great Beyond,\u201d both at Warner Bros. <\/p>\n Representatives for Bad Robot declined to comment. <\/p>\n \n\tBad Robot\u2019s belt-tightening reflects sharp changes in the marketplace for top producers in the years since COVID and the 2023 strikes. Studios and streamers have slashed spending on big-budget long-term deals designed to produce the next \u201cSeinfeld\u201d or \u201cStranger Things.\u201d Those rich eight-figure pacts became measures of status for the busiest showrunner-producers (think Dick Wolf, Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes) in the 1990s and 2000s, but now are disappearing fast. <\/p>\n \n\tA-list talent are still commanding eye-popping paydays. But the deals are done project by project, rather than via the older model of pacts that paid out millions in development funds and compensation over three or four years. Those deals could be rationalized in an era when one hit the size of \u201cGrey\u2019s Anatomy\u201d or \u201cTwo and a Half Men\u201d could bring a studio $500 million-plus in syndication profits. But streaming has changed all that, meaning there\u2019s less largesse in the system flowing to above-the-line talent. <\/p>\n \n\tBut there was a time when it did. <\/p>\n \n\tIn 2006, Bad Robot was at the forefront of jaw-dropping dealmaking by studios eager to lock up hotshot multi-hyphenates in exclusive contracts. And Abrams was positively volcanic by mid-2006. He\u2019d revived Tom Cruise\u2019s \u201cMission: Impossible\u201d dreams after writing and directing that year\u2019s \u201cM:I 3.\u201d His ABC series \u201cLost\u201d was pushing creative boundaries, drawing huge Nielsen numbers and defying FYC gravity as a genre show whose first season won the best drama Emmy.<\/p>\n Amid this perfect storm, Abrams\u2019 agents struck two very rich deals \u2014 one for film (at Paramount Pictures) and one for TV (at Warner Bros. Television). The pacts were unveiled the same day (July 14, 2006) for maximum impact. <\/p>\n \n\tAbrams bought a building in Santa Monica and set out to turn Bad Robot into a next-generation content factory. In 2020, Bad Robot capitalized on another moment in time to strike a megabucks renewal deal with WBTV \u2014 but momentum has observably subsided within the once-utopian Bad Robot offices (complete with a private chef and movie stars working in residence).<\/p>\n Insiders close to Abrams and Katie McGrath, his wife and co-CEO, note the pair had been looking to \u201cdownsize\u201d the operation for some time. While their pivot to New York is confusing to some \u2014 the couple recently completed an extensive renovation on a house in the L.A. power enclave of Rustic Canyon \u2014 one source with knowledge of Abrams says he no longer wishes to play mogul.<\/p>\n \u201cJ.J. is a tinkerer,\u201d the source says. \u201cHe wants to go back to making stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tCynthia Littleton contributed to this report.<\/p>\n \n\tThis story originally appeared in the April 8 print issue of Variety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How the mighty Robot has faltered. J.J. 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