by: Alana Brown-Davis
Media and entertainment giant NBCUniversal has acquired the rights to Robert Ludlum’s “Jason Bourne” and “Treadstone”. According to Variety, this was an extremely competitive bidding process that drew seven offers from streamers and studios. The bid ended in a nine figure deal for NBCUniversal.
Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer expressed his excitement about the acquisition in a statement. “Since its debut in 2002, the iconic Bourne franchise has reshaped the spy genre with groundbreaking films that set new standards for cinematic action,” said Cramer. “We’re energized to continue expanding the Bourne universe into the future with exciting new stories for global audiences.”
Robert Ludlum was a thriller and spy fiction author, who wrote ‘The Bourne Trilogy’ series and its famous character Jason Bourne. His books have sold between 300 million and 500 million copies. After Ludlum passed in 2001, his Bourne series was made into a movie starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne. The Bourne film franchise is Jeffrey Weiner, chairman & CEO of Captivate Entertainment and the executor of Ludlum’s estate, added, “We are thrilled that the ‘Bourne’ franchise will remain at Universal. We look forward to working with the Universal team to expand the Bourne franchise across Universal’s varied platforms.”
The Bourne films have accumulated $1.64 billion across global box offices.