Martin Scorsese’s 'Killers Of The Flower Moon' could go to Apple or Netflix

Paramount Pictures are reportedly so concerned about the budget of Martin Scorsese’s upcoming movie Killers Of The Flower Moon that they’re more than happy for either Netflix or Apple to release the film instead.

The Oscar winning director was all set to start production on the crime thriller this spring, but the coronavirus outbreak means that its production has now been delayed, indefinitely.

Latest coronavirus news, updates and advice

Live: Follow all the latest updates from the UK and around the world

Fact-checker: The number of COVID-19 cases in your local area

Explained: Symptoms, latest advice and how it compares to the flu

According to the Wall Street Journal, via Collider, this break has given Paramount the chance to have a change of heart over the film, the budget of which is apparently around £160 million ($200 million).

The studio are understandably very concerned that Killers Of The Flower Moon won’t make a profit, even though it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro and will tell the true story of one of the first cases that the FBI ever investigated, the murders of Osage Native Americans in Oklahoma. This took place between 1918 and 1931, and saw over 60 Native Americans killed.

Read More: Martin Scorsese's new movie 'Killers of the Flower Moon' will film in March, 2020

Paramount’s decision is unlikely to be a surprise to the director, as the studio were previously attached to release The Irishman. But they baulked at the potential cost of Scorsese’s vision, as well as its three and a half hour running time, which allowed Netflix to step in and release the film instead.

At the same time, the huge implications of the coronavirus pandemic, and the quarantine that has followed, means that most Hollywood studios have never been more concerned about budgets, profits, and even going bankrupt.