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EXCLUSIVE: Jon Watts, his production company Freshman Year and producer Dianne McGunigle have been staked to a first-look feature deal with Walt Disney Studios. Under the deal, Watts will direct feature-length projects for Disney live action and 20th Century Studios with the option to produce.
Watts came from the low budget well received Sundance indie film Cop Car to be chosen to join Tom Holland and Zendaya in the third iteration of the Spider-Man franchise. Some $4 billion in gross later spread over three films, Watts stepped out and wrote, directed and produced Wolfs, the George Clooney and Brad Pitt-starrer for Apple. That film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival, gets a limited theatrical release before bowing on Apple TV+ September 27. Watts has made a deal for a sequel of the slick thriller about two competitive shadowy guys who quietly fix messes that powerful people get into.
Watts has a relationship with Disney that goes beyond the one forged with Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige on the Spider-Man films. He serves as an Executive Producer on the FX series The Old Man that stars Jeff Bridges; Watts also created and is Executive Producer of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, the limited series for Lucasfilm that begins streaming on Disney+ on Dec. 3, 2024.
“Jon Watts is a truly gifted filmmaker who brings spectacle, humor and heart to whatever he does,” said David Greenbaum, president, Disney live action and 20th Century Studios. “I am so excited to work with him and his producing partner Dianne McGunigle on a slate of upcoming projects for Disney and 20th.”
Watts told Deadline: “I’ve already had an incredible experience working with Alan Bergman, Kathy Kennedy, Kevin Feige and the rest of the Disney team and I’m thrilled to now be partnering with the brilliantly creative David Greenbaum. David has exceptional taste and deep filmmaking knowledge and I’m excited to work with him and his team to create memorable, director-driven theatrical experiences.”
Watts’ film Cop Car was made in his hometown of Fountain, Colorado for a budget of $800,000. It turned out to be quite a calling card. It was seen by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures executives after its Sundance premiere, and he was tapped to direct the new Spider-Man franchise. The final film in that trilogy, Spider-Man: No Way Home, became the third highest grossing film in US history. Just as importantly, the clever storyline that united Holland with Spidey predecessors Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield was one of those blockbusters that restored confidence in the theatrical industry as it was struggling to recover from the global pandemic.
Watts’s New York- based Freshman Year and McGunigle – who is married to Watts and was Executive Producer on the Donald Glover series Atlanta — currently have multiple projects in various phases of production and development, overseen by Watts and development exec Kathleen Gardner. Aside from Wolfs at Apple, they are in post-production on Final Destination: Bloodlines for Warner Brothers, are in pre-production for a feature adaptation of the Murder 101 podcast for Amazon and will be producing and co-financing NSFL, the feature debut of award-winning music video director Keith Schofield with Caviar and Roughhouse Pictures.
Watts is repped by CAA and attorney Gregory Slewett.
