Amazon Wins Max Barbakow’s Body Swap Comedy Pitch Vehicle for Julia Roberts & Jennifer Aniston; They will produce with LuckyChap

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios won a heated auction among four other studios and streamers for a Julia Roberts and Jennifer Aniston comedy vehicle. The untitled body-swap comedy was introduced last week by Max Barbakow, who will write and direct the film. LuckyChap Entertainment, the production label of Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Josey McNamara, will produce alongside Roberts and her Red Om Films banner, Aniston’s Echo Films and Barbakow. He is best known as a director Palm Springs, the 2020 Andy Samberg-Cristin Milioti comedy that won Neon and Hulu at Sundance for a then-festival record. The comedy is based on his original pitch.

The hunger for a two-handed star vehicle comes after the surprise hit of Entry ticket to paradise, the comedy that reunited Roberts with George Clooney. For Jennifer Salke and Julie Rapaport, Amazon’s head of movies, this is a boost in Amazon’s efforts to expand its movie offering.

Amazon vied for Sundance’s hot title flora and boy, and won the auction red shirtA Simon Kinberg pitch that will star Channing Tatum for director David Leitch, and before that the Nick Stoller-led wedding comedy with Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell.

CAA handled the auction, and it’s further proof that star packs, which can be quickly tracked and incorporated into release schedules, are the best way to fetch the highest price. By the time the Roberts and Aniston comedy is filmed, I’m told each actress is going to be getting windfalls, including salary and backend buyout.

Roberts is represented by BLA and Hirsch Wallerstein; Aniston is BLA, Lighthouse Management and Hansen Jacobson; Barbakow is CAA, Range Media Partners, and Jim Gilio and Jonathan Sauer at Sloan, Offer; and LuckyChap is CAA, Entertainment 360 and attorney Jeff Bernstein.