Jordan Peele’s first-look deal with Universal Pictures is up in a few months, and yeah—it’s starting to feel like things at Monkeypaw might be a little shaky. On Tuesday, the company laid off several staffers while reworking its development slate. From what’s being reported, Monkeypaw is now down to just four employees.
What this actually means is anyone’s guess. It could be Peele getting lean ahead of a new deal with Universal, or just scaling things back after a rough stretch. Either way, it definitely feels like a reset moment for a company that, not that long ago, was one of the more notable names in genre filmmaking.
And this isn’t coming out of nowhere. There was another round of layoffs about a year ago, and not long before that, Peele had ditched his reps after losing the 2023 bidding war for “Weapons.”
MonkeyPaw’s recent track record hasn’t exactly been great. “Monkey Man” didn’t really land at the box office, HBO axed “Lovecraft Country” after one season, and the “Twilight Zone” reboot kind of came and went. Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman” barely broke even, and last year’s “HIM,” with Marlon Wayans, bombed commercially—and got lousy reviews on top of it.
Even Peele’s own movies haven’t hit the same way since “Get Out” in 2017. That film was lightning in a bottle—Oscar win, huge cultural moment, the whole thing. “Us” did strong business and people liked it, but it didn’t have that same impact. Then “Nope” came along in 2022—critics were into it, but it made less money than his other films and left a lot of audiences kind of mixed on it.
Now his next movie is up in the air too. It was supposed to hit Christmas 2024 at one point, then that version got scrapped. Another script came together, then fell apart. As of last summer, he was working on something new again, which even had an October 23, 2026 date lined up—but that’s gone now.
That said, there is at least a bit of forward movement. The InSneider says Peele has finally settled on his next film. He’s still writing it, but apparently it’s shaping up to be his biggest yet, with a budget somewhere around $90M. Of course… we’ll see if this one actually sticks.
For now, it’s just a waiting game. Can he come back with something that hits like “Get Out”? Maybe, maybe not. But people are still paying attention—and there’s still that hope he’s got another big one in him.