Netflix has given the greenlight to director Michael Bay for him to create his next film “Six Underground.” The streaming service is providing Michael Bay a budget of almost $125 million. The film will star Ryan Reynolds. According to Variety, Netflix outbid Paramount, which has produced a majority of Bay’s films.

Deadpool writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese are working on the story, with The Hollywood Reporter saying the film would revolve around a group of billionaires who fake their own deaths and create an elite team to take down bad guys. Bay is starting production this summer with an expected release in 2019.

The project is developed by Skydance. This becomes the latest massive undertaking by Netflix, as some in the media as well as the Cannes Film Festival attempt to downplay the streaming platform’s initiatives.

Netflix expanding their original content

Netflix has become a top-destination for hit original shows like “Stranger Things,” “Jessica Jones,” and recently “Altered Carbon.” The streaming service has not had much success when it came to original film ambitions. Netflix has turned to acquiring low budget films such as “The Cloverfield Paradox.” Most recently greenlit a sequel to their latest blockbuster budget film “Bright.”

This is Skydance’s first collaboration with the streaming platform on a feature film of this size.

It’s also the first project Ryan Reynolds and Michael Bay have done for the streaming platform. Skydance and Netflix have worked on a variety of television shows before including “Grace and Frankie” and recently “Altered Carbon.”

Netflix competing against Amazon's original films

Netflix is turning their focus from creating original films with leading stars and instead make blockbusters that could strongly compete against Hollywood’s massive summer blockbusters.

Amazon has already announced plans for their own massive film projects including a “Lord of the Rings” series as well as an upcoming “Jack Ryan” series set to debut this summer.

Netflix’s last attempt at a feature film received massive amounts of negative reviews, but Nielsen reported that nearly 11 million American viewers watched the movie within the first three days of its premiere.

It was first announced in March that Michael Bay was working on “Six Underground.” Netflix previously announced that they are planning 1,000 hours of new original shows and movies by the end of the year, more than doubling their current original content. This could possibly lead to another successful franchise for Ryan Reynolds, whose “Deadpool 2” continues to rise at the box office.
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