EXCLUSIVE: In an era of austerity when rich studio deals are harder to come by, Sony Pictures is betting big on Chris Bremner, as the studio has signed him to a writing and producing deal on the lot under his new company, Unknown Quantity.
Bremner has enlisted veteran film producer Jeff Arkuss as his partner at Unknown Quantity. This follows his work architecting the third and fourth installments in the Bad Boys franchise, Bad Boys for Life and Bad Boys: Ride or Die, both of which hit big. Starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, the buddy cop actioners together grossed over $837 million globally.
Showing he could be entrusted with Sony’s top-shelf IP, Bremner got another big vote of confidence when he was enlisted recently to reignite one of their other big Will Smith-led franchises, Men in Black. As we told you first, the project is in early development at the studio, with Bremner currently at work on the script.
“I’ve been so lucky to get to work on the IP and franchises that have come my way, and I really enjoy getting to continue some of the storytelling I grew up on,” said Bremner in a statement to Deadline. “I’m grateful to Sony for supporting me in all of that and for increasingly trusting my vision to build movies for them as a producer. It’s so much fun making commercial movies for big audiences, and that’s what we’re continuing to pursue with the company—commercial ideas that can appeal widely but that have some weird/off-center stuff inside to hopefully keep them fresh and surprising.”
Kickstarting his Hollywood career with Blackfriars, a comedy script that made the Black List in 2015, Bremner has become one of the most coveted writers in town in the decade since, known for the savvy he brings to the franchise space. Also currently writing a third National Treasure movie for Disney, he’s at this point worked with virtually every major studio, including Sony, Netflix, Amazon, Paramount, Universal, Disney, and Lionsgate.
Bremner has been quick to get projects in motion since inking his Sony deal, setting up films at the studio including Permission by Dan Roe and You Up by Gabe Delahaye, both off of pitches. Previously scripting a reboot of The Pink Panther for Amazon MGM and an untitled movie for Universal off one of their franchises, he is repped by WME, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, and JSSK.
A partner at No Trace Camping for 14 and a half years, Arkuss exec produced the Academy Award–winning Room starring Brie Larson, the romantic comedy The Broken Hearts Gallery, starring Dacre Montgomery and Geraldine Viswanathan, and the rom-com What If starring Daniel Radcliffe and Zoe Kazan, also producing the sci-fi thriller Kin. Earlier in his career, he was a studio executive at Fox Searchlight and Fox Atomic, contributing to dozens of films, including 28 Weeks Later and The Hills Have Eyes.
Rounding out Bremner’s team at Unknown Quantity is Brandon Xie, who joins from UTA.
