Warner Bros. is no longer in the talks to produce Adam Sandler's "The Ridiculous Six," a western comedy that faces a lot of challenges, including Sandler's decision to book four feature films with Netflix exclusively.
The Nexflix deal was announced on October 1.
The four-film deal caught many by surprise since Sandler is one of the studio system;s most entrenched, and prolific stars.
Sandler will star and produce the four titles, which will make him unable for long stretches of time for studio projects.
Sandler's "Happy Madison Production" will develop the Netflix movies.
Warners had been in talks for months to make the film, and during that time, Sandler's Blended badly underperformed for the studio, while Seth McFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West, another Western comedy, sold out. (Universal and Media Rights Capital made that film).
Also, Warners and Happy Madison hadn't come to terms on the size of the production budget for Ridiculous Six.
In 2012, Sony was originally set to make the movie but pulled the strings back.
Paramount then pursued the movie but passed back the rights to Sony.
Warner executives haven't made any official statements, but rumors say they fully intend to work with Sandler again.
And Sony, where Sandler has a longtime deal, says it has every intention of working with Sandler for years to come.
Still, industry observers question what will happen once Sandler's current Sony commitments, including "Pixels" and "Hotel Transylvania 2," have been completed and he turns his attention to his Netflix projects.
"Pixels" is set for release on July 24, 2015 while "Hotel Transylvania 2" is out in theaters Sept. 15, 2015, and there's a possible "Grown Ups 3" in the offing.
