Amazon Studios is currently in final negotiations to acquire the film package titled “The Pick Up,” which includes Eddie Murphy as the potential star and Tim Story as the attached director.
Sources describe “The Pick Up” as a heist comedy in the vein of “Bad Boys,” with Murphy portraying a man who becomes enamored with a woman and gets caught up in a heist attempt. Burrows and Mider previously collaborated on the 2018 comedy “The Package” and the Condé Nast series “Gentlemen Lobsters.” Their most recent spec script, “Shots! Shots! Shots!,” was picked up by Universal for Jason Momoa to star in and produce with Dan Lin.
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The package, based on a spec script by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider, sparked a bidding war that drove the price up to seven figures with three other bidders in the mix. John Davis and John Fox will produce the film through their Davis Entertainment banner, while Murphy and Charisse Hewitt-Webster are also in talks to produce through Eddie Murphy Productions. Story will also serve as a producer.
Murphy and Davis have worked together on five films, including the Critics Choice Award-winning Netflix comedy “Dolemite Is My Name.” Murphy also recently starred in the Netflix comedy “You People” alongside Jonah Hill. Story’s upcoming project is “The Blackening,” which Lionsgate acquired after its Toronto premiere and is set to be released on Juneteenth.