Legendary Television Inks First-Look Deal With dj2 Entertainment; Sets Projects With Ed Ricourt, Thor Freudenthal & More
Legendary Television is getting into business with dj2 Entertainment, signing a multi-year, first-look deal with the Dmitri M. Johnson-founded production company that specializes in adapting video games for film and television. Under the pact, Legendary and dj2 are in development on projects with writers and directors including Ed Ricourt (Now You See Me, Raising Dion); Thor Freudenthal (Carnival Row, Words on Bathroom Walls); Matt Hastings (The Handmaid’s Tale); and Derek Kolstad (the John Wick franchise).
“dj2 Entertainment shares our vision of adapting popular intellectual property into expansive worlds that captivate audiences,” said Nick Pepper, President, Legendary Television. “We are thrilled to work with them, as well as extremely talented writers and directors like Ed, Thor, Matt and Derek, on future projects and video game adaptations.”
dj2 Entertainment most recently saw success with the release of Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog, which saw a record box office opening of over $70 million. It remains the best domestic opening for a video game property on the big screen (on both a three-day and four-day basis) and the biggest theatrical release for Paramount since Summer 2018. The film held the number one spot in the domestic theatrical box office for two consecutive weeks/weekends.
Stephan Bugaj and Howard Bliss round out dj2’s development team.
“Legendary is an amazing partner whose team truly appreciates our diverse, global slate. Moreover, we believe that Legendary’s team is the ideal partnership for us to collectively become Hollywood’s best-in-class formula in the IP adaptation space while concurrently protecting our IP creator partners,” said Dmitri M. Johnson, CEO, dj2 Entertainment.
Legendary’s current television roster includes the Lost in Space reboot on Netflix; Amazon’s Carnival Row, Dune: The Sisterhood for HBO Max; Pacific Rim: The Black on Netflix; Console Wars for CBS All Access and Paper Girls for Amazon.
dj2 Entertainment is repped by APA and Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver & Thompson.
