Damien Chazelle’s Babylon acquired by Paramount Pictures; film to release on December, 2021

Paramount Pictures has acquired the worldwide right to Damien Chazelle’s upcoming feature film Babylon, reports Deadline. As per the article, the studio has scheduled the film for a Christmas, 2021 release.

After its initial release on 25 December, the film will be available to wider audiences on 7 January.

This date essentially means Chazelle’s film could well be considered for the Academy Awards and BAFTAs next year. Chazelle took home an Oscar for Best Director for his musical (featuring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling) La La Land in 2017.

Check out a post on Babylon

The new film was reportedly out in the market for grabs over summer this year. Paramount was in a bidding war with Lionsgate for its distribution rights. The report also adds Emma Stone and Brad Pitt are in talks to feature in the film but neither's deal has been finalised.

Though there is not much in terms of plot details, Babylon is set to have been placed at a time when films were evolving from silent features to talkies. The movie will reportedly be a mix of reel and real personalities, much akin to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, coincidentally a film that Pitt last appeared in.

The exact budget of the film is yet to be determined, but Chazelle is reportedly set to bring in an all-star supporting cast to aid Stone and Pitt's lead characters.

Olivia Hamilton, Matt Plouffe, Tobey Maguire, and Marc Platt are scheduled to produce Babylon. Adam Siegel and Helen Estabrook will serve as executive producers on the film.

The film also marks Damien Chazelle's next project after the much-hyped First Man, which charted the iconic events in astronaut Neil Armstrong's life. It also had Ryan Gosling in the lead. Chazelle has recently been involved with The Eddy, streaming on Netflix.