‘Wicked’ Director Jon M. Chu Lands Major Paramount Deal

Jon M. Chu has signed a three-year first-look deal with Paramount to develop and produce both films and television shows. The agreement, starting January 2, 2026, will have Chu and his production company based on the Paramount lot.

He will collaborate with top executives including Co-Chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, Motion Picture Group President Don Granger, and Paramount Television Studios President Matt Thunell. This information comes from sources familiar with the deal.

Chu recently directed Wicked: For Good, which opened in November and set the record for the biggest global opening for a movie based on a Broadway show. It also had the second largest opening at the domestic box office in 2025.

The director has a busy lineup of upcoming projects. He will direct an animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s Oh, The Places You’ll Go!, produced by Warner Bros. Pictures Animation with Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Bad Robot Productions.

Chu is also attached to The Great Chinese Art Heist, a film based on a GQ article about European museum robberies, with Jimmy O. Yang, Jessica Gao, and Ken Cheng writing the script.

Chu will produce an animated Play-Doh film with Entertainment One and Hasbro. He is set to direct and co-produce Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the classic Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, for Amazon MGM Studios and the Really Useful Group.

Other projects include directing the film adaptation of Britney Spears’ memoir The Woman in Me for Universal, a live-action adaptation of the video game Split Fiction starring Sydney Sweeney, and the Hot Wheels live-action movie with Mattel and Warner Bros. Chu will direct all three projects.

Chu has said that musicals and unique stories are his passion, and this deal with Paramount gives him a platform to expand his work across both movies and television.

Jon M. Chu continues to show he can handle a wide range of projects, from musicals to animated films and live-action adaptations. This first-look deal with Paramount could lead to some exciting new projects for both fans of his work and general audiences. What do you think about Chu’s upcoming slate of films and shows? Share your thoughts in the comments.