Madonna’s biopic costed Universal Pictures more than a whooping $10 millions before the singer scrapped it to focus on her upcoming tour.
An insider close to the situation told The Sun that the production company spent somewhere between $10million and $12million on the development process of the film .
Grueling boot camp-style auditions which ended with Julia Garner bagging the role of the singer after beating the likes of Florence Pugh and Sydney Sweeney apparently costed a lot, the outlet claimed.
Then, Oscar-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody quitting the biopic as he found it impossible to write the script with the Queen of Pop, added to the costs.
“They started spending money on this project back in 2020, which included millions for Madonna and her manager Guy Oseary to license the rights to Madonna’s story and her music,” the source said.
“Plus millions were spent on writing and directing fees for Madonna and Diablo Cody’s top-of-class writing fee as a former Oscar winner.
“Then there was the dancing and ‘boot camp’ elements of the casting process, which took months of everybody’s time.
“When you spend millions and millions on a project without a final script, there’s going to be a gut-check moment, and that’s what happened here,” the source added.
But for Madonna, her highly-anticipated 40th anniversary Celebration tour will make her more money than her biopic would have.
The insider continued, “There is no doubt that Madonna is going to make more money on her Celebration tour than she would have if she had spent 2023 making the Madonna movie.
“This was never about money and Madonna has made more cash in her career than she knows what to do with,” the source revealed.
“Making this movie was a chance to finally prove herself as a filmmaker and an artist outside of the songs and music videos she’s known for.
“Remember, she has been married to two film directors, Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie, and she wanted to show the world that she really learned something from the experience of watching those guys put their directing careers together.”
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