Apple loses $500 million bidding war for J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot

J.J. Abrams, creator of many popular series such as Lost, Alias, and Westworld, and director of the 2009 Star Trek reboot, is set to start a new partnership with WarnerMedia to the tune of nearly $500 million. Many companies, including Apple, had entered a bidding war hoping to score exclusivity with the production company.

The Hollywood Reporter says WarnerMedia has emerged the victor and is in the process of finalizing the contract. Abrams has worked closely with WarnerMedia's daughter company, HBO, on several projects, including Westworld. John Stankey, WarnerMedia's CEO, had sought to keep Bad Robot in-house.

Under the deal, Bad Robot will continue to create new projects for WarnerMedia, including WarnerMedia's forthcoming streaming video on demand service. The deal covers movies, television shows, video games, consumer products, and digital content. It is not currently clear how many years the new agreement would be for, or if the contract requires complete exclusivity.

The race to secure notable production companies is heating up as more companies begin to release their own streaming services. Apple has been in the process of acquiring series for their new streaming service. This includes See, and For All Mankind.