EXCLUSIVE: With the recent shutdown of movie theaters due to COVID-19, the STX action family comedy My Spy, which was last scheduled for theatrical release on April 17, is heading to Amazon Prime. Amazon Studios picked up the Peter Segal-directed PG-13 movie from STXFilms and MWM Studios for U.S. and key foreign territories. A streaming date will be scheduled in the future.
My Spy follows JJ a hardened CIA operative (Dave Bautista) who has been demoted and finds himself at the mercy of a precocious 9-year-old girl, named Sophie (Chloe Coleman) where he has been sent undercover begrudgingly to surveil her family. When Sophie discovers hidden cameras in her apartment, she uses her tech savviness to locate where the surveillance operation is set. In exchange for not blowing JJ’s cover Sophie convinces him to spend time with her and teach her to be a spy. Despite his reluctance JJ finds he is no match for Sophie’s disarming charm and wit.
Jon and Erich Hoeber wrote the script. The pic also stars Kristen Schaal, Parisa Fitz-Henley, Chloe Coleman, Ken Jeong and Devere Rogers. Producers are Chris Bender, Peter Segal, Jake Weiner, Robert Simonds, Gigi Pritzker, Dave Bautista and Jonathan Meisner.
Already, My Spy has played Canada prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in early March making around $200K. Overseas, the movie counts $4.4M with a bulk of that ($2.7M) from its release in Australia, as well as Mexico, UK, Croatia, Germany, Netherlands, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
No big shocker here seeing My Spy head to streaming. Many movies that were already in theaters–Onward,The Invisible Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Bloodshot, I Still Believe, had to segue into homes to make good on their cash. As Deadline first told you, Netflix acquired the Paramount/MRC comedy The Lovebirds for streaming, a date which will be scheduled down the road. Disney recently decided to take their Memorial Day theatrical release Artemis Fowl straight to Disney+ at some point in the future, and Disney boss Bob Iger indicated yesterday there could be more titles. But, studios know they can’t set a fire to the house to keep warm: They’ve safeguarded their event movies for a later theatrical release in order to reap the benefits of windows.
STX had a bright spot on its 2019 calendar with Hustlers, and kicked off Deadline’s profit tournament on Monday as the 25th most profitable pic of last year. According to our finance sources, the Jennifer Lopez crime pic netted an estimated profit of $47M. To date this year, STX has released Miramax’s Guy Ritchie crime pic The Gentlemen ($36.2M domestic, $115M WW) and horror sequel Brahms: The Boy II ($12.6M domestic, $20.3M WW).