Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Penthouse Puts Tom Holland at the Top of Sony's Thriller Stack

Sony is not wasting any time staying in the Tom Holland business. The studio has pre-emptively bought Penthouse, an original thriller built as a starring vehicle for Holland, from an idea by Drew Pearce – the writer behind Iron Man 3, The Fall Guy and Hobbs and Shaw. Holland will also produce through his company Billy17, with Pearce producing through his Point of No Return banner and Ian Fisher as executive producer.

A pre-emptive deal is Hollywood’s way of shouting. It means Sony read the package, liked the combination of star and writer, and bought it before anyone else could start a bidding war. After Spider-Man: Brand New Day crossed the 2 billion dollar mark worldwide this summer, that kind of confidence in Holland is easy to understand – but the interesting choice here is what Sony bought. Not a franchise. Not a remake. An original thriller, with the plot still under wraps.

The Pearce touch

Pearce has a particular gift: high-concept setups played with wit and pace. Iron Man 3 remains the most divisive and, to many of us, the most interesting of that trilogy precisely because Pearce and Shane Black treated it as a detective story in a superhero suit. The Fall Guy turned stunt work into a love letter. He also wrote and directed Hotel Artemis, a contained thriller with a stacked cast, which may be the closest tonal cousin to whatever Penthouse turns out to be.

Plot details are being kept secret, and honesty requires saying so plainly: nobody outside the deal knows what the film is about yet. What is confirmed is the shape of the team – Pearce writing, Holland starring and producing, and the actor’s Billy17 partners Harry Holland and Will South producing alongside him, with Holland reportedly hands-on in development. Stars who produce their own vehicles choose differently than stars who just sign on, and Holland’s taste so far has leaned toward stretching himself.

Sony’s busiest leading man

Penthouse joins a Sony slate for Holland that now includes the Fred Astaire biopic, which finally moves toward production with Paul King directing. That one-two punch is a smart career design: a musical biography that trades on Holland’s stage training, and an original thriller that lets him carry a film on presence rather than a costume. Between them sits his work in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey this summer, which reminded everyone what he can do inside an ensemble.

Preview verdict: an easy yes. Original thrillers built around a single star are the films Hollywood keeps saying it wants to make and then not making. Sony just paid up front to make one, with a writer who knows how to build them and an actor at the exact peak of his drawing power. Whatever is waiting at the top of that elevator, we will be in line to find out.

An original, at last

Step back and the deal says something hopeful about where studio slates are heading. The safest money in Hollywood remains the sequel, the remake and the universe entry – readers saw a full parade of them in yesterday’s coverage, from Frozen 3’s Arendelle wedding to Coco 2’s return to the Land of the Dead. Those films will make their money. But a studio using its biggest star’s heat to buy an original screenplay outright, before rivals can bid, is the old Hollywood reflex working the way it should: talent plus material, bought on instinct.

Holland, for his part, keeps choosing interesting rooms to stand in. A contained Pearce thriller will live or die on his ability to hold a frame and a secret at the same time, skills his stage training and his dramatic turns have been quietly building for years. No director is attached yet, no date is set, and the plot is a locked drawer. For a preview, that is plenty. The package is the news, and the package is A-list on every line.

A note on timing, because it flatters everyone involved. Sony did not buy Penthouse at a quiet moment in Holland’s career and hope for the best. The studio bought it at the top of the market for its star, weeks after a 2 billion dollar summer, when Holland could have chosen almost anything. He chose an original thriller and a producer’s chair. Studios remember choices like that, and so do audiences. Whatever Penthouse turns out to be about, its first scene has already played out in a negotiating room – and it was a good one.<

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