Apple among those outbid by WarnerMedia for J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production company

Lesley Goldberg for The Hollywood Reporter:

The sweepstakes to land a massive overall deal with Bad Robot, the famed production company run by J.J. Abrams and his wife and co-CEO Katie McGrath, is nearing the finish line.
Following a months-long courting process that included multiple suitors, WarnerMedia is in final negotiations for a new partnership with Bad Robot, sources say. It’s unclear how many years the new agreement is for, as the deal that would keep Abrams with the company he has called home since 2006 has not yet been finalized. Still, sources have estimated that any new pact for Bad Robot could be valued in the $500 million vicinity when all is said and done… Under the deal, Abrams and company will continue to create and develop new projects for WarnerMedia and supervise other producers across film, TV and digital platforms. Sources say the process of moving Bad Robot’s feature film deal over from Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures has already begun.
The pact arrives after Abrams and Bad Robot were considered the biggest fish in the overall deal waters. Multiple studios and streamers at least kicked the tires or engaged in a hyper-competitive effort to woo Abrams and McGrath on a possible rich pact for the company behind hits including HBO’s Westworld and Hulu’s Castle Rock, among others. Netflix, Apple, Amazon and fellow media behemoths WarnerMedia, Comcast and Sony Entertainment were among those who, sources say, met or explored a deal with Bad Robot.

MacDailyNews Take: There’s a big one that got away, but Apple might be more interested in spending to acquire a large content library (Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, MGM, A24, etc.) in order to bolster their lineup of new entries for Apple TV+.