John Krasinski sported a fitted red button-down and black trousers in New York City as he arrived to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday afternoon.
As the 41-year-old actor prepared to promote his new post-apocalyptic thriller, A Quiet Place Part II, out next Friday, he was swarmed by autograph hunters.
While he walked into the Ed Sullivan Theater wearing black loafers and a quirky pair of purple socks, the four-time Emmy nominee held onto a protective facial covering.
Looking good: John Krasinski sported a fitted red button-down and black trousers in New York City as he arrived to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Wednesday afternoon
When interacting with fans, he stayed safe by wearing a light blue surgical mask and his hair slicked back.
Krasinski’s outing comes just two weeks after it was reported he and his wife Emily Blunt, are reportedly in a battle with Paramount Pictures over their compensation for A Quiet Place II.
The celebrity couple are said to be fighting for additional compensation from the studio after it opted to shorten the horror film’s exclusive theatrical window, a person familiar with the negotiations told Bloomberg.
Handsome: As the 41-year-old actor prepared to promote his new post-apocalyptic thriller, A Quiet Place Part II, out next Friday, he was swarmed by autograph hunters
According to the source, the couple are keen to make up for the lost revenue, as most of their payment is tied to how well the film performs in theaters, as opposed to on streaming service.
Paramount allegedly plans to cut the film’s exclusive 90-day theatrical window in half to only 45 days before making the movie available on its fledgling Paramount+ streaming service.
That would likely significantly shrink the compensation for Blunt, 38, and Krasinski as Paramount+ subscribers will be able to see the film for less than the cost of going to a theater.
Stylish: While he walked into the Ed Sullivan Theater wearing black loafers and a quirky pair of purple socks, the four-time Emmy nominee held onto a protective facial covering
Currently, most actors’ contracts don’t include a mechanism for them to make money off a film’s streaming performance.
With a much shorter stay in theaters, some viewers may simply decide they can wait it out until the movie pops up on streaming.
The film is also set for a May 28 theatrical release, but many theaters throughout the United States and the rest of the world are still closed, further eating into the couple’s profits.
Bad timing: Many viewers may wait out the halved timeframe to just watch the film on Paramount+. The studio also moved up the release date from September, so some people may stay home now due to the pandemic; seen in 2018 in London
Cut in half: Most of Blunt and Krasinski’s pay is tied to how the film performers in theaters, but now it will only be in theaters for 45 days before it pops up on Paramount+ for streaming; still from A Quiet Place
Even theaters that are open may be limited to a smaller capacity to help prevent coronavirus infections.
Although COVID-19 cases are trending downward in parts of the US, viewers in some areas may decide late May is still too early to safely go to a public movie theater.
Representatives for Blunt, Krasinski, and the film’s producers, including Michael Bay, have all asked Paramount to raise their compensation on the picture, though so far the studio isn’t budging, according to the same source.
There’s reportedly no mechanism in Blunt and Krasinski’s contract for them to get extra money to make up for lost theatrical grosses, so the studio could simply choose to leave the couple with a smaller payday if it wanted.
Hardball: Representatives for Blunt, Krasinski, and producer Michael Bay have asked Paramount to raise their pay on the picture, though so far the studio isn’t budging; still from A Quiet Place
Paramount also produces Krasinksi’s Jack Ryan TV show, which airs on Amazon Prime, so it has an ongoing relationship with the actor, writer and director.
The studio made the unusual choice amid the ongoing pandemic of moving up the film’s release date from September to late May after previously pushing it back several times.
A Quiet Place II originally had its premiere on March 8, 2020, just days before much of the world shut down to the pandemic, which is still raging unchecked across much of the globe.
The first film in the series was a hit with critics and a massive success for Paramount. It was the studio’s second highest-grossing film of 2018 with $341 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
It’s a hit! The original film was Paramount’s second highest-grossing film of 2018, thanks to being a hit with fans and only costing a modest $20 million; still from A Quiet Place
It helped that the film only cost about $20 million to make, a relatively modest sum by Hollywood standards.
Warner Bros. faced a similar dilemma when it premiered many of its biggest films, including Godzilla Vs. Kong, to simultaneous premieres on HBO Max and in theaters, but it compensated its filmmakers and stars to make up for their lost payments.
Streaming services like Netflix have already been paying talent higher salaries, as most of its films have minimal theatrical release if they get one at all.