Jon M. Chu, the filmmaker behind Crazy Rich Asians and the two-part Wicked adaptation, has signed a three-year first-look producing deal with Paramount, giving the studio priority access to his film and television projects starting January 2, 2026. The agreement, first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, makes Chu and his Electric Somewhere banner key players in the content strategy of the newly merged Paramount Skydance.
Under the pact, Electric Somewhere will be based on the Paramount lot and develop projects across both features and series. Studio materials say Chu will work closely with Paramount Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, Motion Picture Group president Don Granger, and Paramount Television Studios president Matt Thunell. In a standard first-look arrangement, the studio gets the chance to buy or finance a project before the filmmaker can take it elsewhere, giving Paramount a direct pipeline to Chu’s development slate.
Chu arrives with strong box office credentials. Crazy Rich Asians earned about $239 million worldwide on a relatively modest budget, while the first Wicked film took in roughly $756 million globally. Follow-up Wicked: For Good has already passed $400 million worldwide in its first weeks of release, reinforcing Chu’s reputation as a dependable director for large-scale, music-driven studio projects.
The Paramount deal represents a shift in Chu’s home base. He previously held a first-look arrangement at Warner Bros., where he made Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights. Trade reports indicate he remains attached to several projects outside Paramount, including a live-action Hot Wheels feature and an animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go at Warner Bros., as well as a Britney Spears biopic at Universal and a stage-focused Crazy Rich Asians follow-up.
For Paramount Skydance, led by CEO David Ellison, Chu joins a growing roster of marquee talent signed to long-term deals as the company tries to ramp up its film output and reassert itself in the studio race after the 2025 merger that created the new entity. Online reaction has split between viewers who see the move as a logical partnership between a reliable hitmaker and a studio hungry for event titles, and fans who question how Chu will juggle a crowded slate across multiple companies and who remain wary of the politics around Paramount’s new ownership.
