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JJ Abrams’ Hollywood takeover: will he save or kill cinema?

The film-maker’s deal with Warner suggests further dominance – but he’s hardly an innovator

It is JJ Abrams’s multiverse; we just live in it. That’s how it’s starting to feel, at least. The prolific producer-director-writer-geek overlord has had a hand in so many pop-culture properties over the past decade, it feels like he has basically won Hollywood. Star Wars (he’s finishing off Episode IX right now), Star Trek, Mission Impossible – all have benefited from the Abrams touch. Not to mention his zeitgeisty TV series: Lost, Westworld and Alias. Unsurprisingly, everybody wants him.

Last week, we found out just how much: Abrams’s company Bad Robot signed a $250m “mega-deal” to produce film, TV and digital content for WarnerMedia. Apple reportedly offered him double that but he went with Warner. This immediately lit up lightbulbs in one quadrant of the fan galaxy: Warner is the home of DC Comics’ superheroes. For DC fans, the coming of Abrams would be like hearing your athletics team has just signed the Flash.

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2m9rjwS
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