Jon M. Chu to Expand Wicked Universe with Paramount Deal Starting January 2026

Jon M. Chu inked a three-year first-look producing pact with Paramount Pictures and Paramount Television Studios, effective Jan. 2, 2026, according to Deadline. The filmmaker will develop and produce movies and TV shows through his production company at the studio.

Chu and his Electric Somewhere production banner will get offices on the Paramount lot. They'll collaborate with Paramount Pictures co-chairs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, alongside Motion Picture Group president Don Granger and Paramount Television Studios president Matt Thunell.

His latest work, Wicked: For Good, opened in November and grabbed the biggest worldwide opening ever for a Broadway adaptation. The movie also claimed the second-biggest opening in domestic theaters in 2025. The sequel has pulled in $393.3 million across the globe so far — $122 million from overseas markets and $270 million from North American audiences.

Chu directed Wicked, the first half of the two-part adaptation, back in 2024. It became the top-earning Broadway musical adaptation of all time, raking in over $756 million worldwide and snagging 10 Oscar nominations, including best picture, and took home Academy Awards for best production design and best costume design earlier this year.

Wicked isn't his first success. Crazy Rich Asians became the highest-grossing romantic comedy in almost ten years when it hit screens, earning $239 million around the world. He also made In the Heights, Now You See Me 2, and Step Up 2 the Streets. Warner Bros. had a first-look arrangement with him before, which led to Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights.

Chu has several projects lined up, according to Variety. He's attached to direct a Britney Spears biopic at Universal, a live-action Hot Wheels movie at Warner Bros, and an animated version of Dr. Seuss's Oh the Places You'll Go. He'll helm another stage-to-screen musical with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Plus, he's executive producing a Crazy Rich Asians TV series that HBO Max is building.

UTA represents the director. So does Artists First, Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson, and Christopher, LLP, and ID PR.