Guillermo Del Toro is getting a juicy bonus from Fox Searchlight after The Shape Of Water’s big Best Picture win at the Oscars, with Deadline reporting that he has just signed an overall deal with Fox Searchlight. That will give the studio dibs on anything Del Toro wants to write, produce, and direct, and he’ll also be getting his own film label that he can use to develop new “horror, sci-fi, and fantasy genre projects” that will all be financed and and distributed by Fox Searchlight. Basically, Fox Searchlight will get whatever the next The Shape Of Water is, while Del Toro has the freedom to continue pursuing any weird genre stuff that catches his eye.
“For the longest time, I’ve hoped to find an environment in which I can distribute, nurture, and produce new voices in smart, inventive genre films and channel my own,” Del Toro said in a statement, adding, “In Fox Searchlight, I’ve found a real home for live-action production.” In a separate statement, Fox Searchlight presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley highlighted the work they saw from Del Toro as a director and writer, saying, “We believe in him and the vision for a new Searchlight label, and we are eager to embark on this journey with him.”
The first movie that will be released as part of this agreement is Scott Cooper’s Antlers, which was actually picked up by Fox Searchlight last year and will be produced by Del Toro.