EXCLUSIVE: Universal’s hit The Best Man movie franchise is getting a new installment as a streaming series. Peacock has ordered a 10-episode limited dramedy series The Best Man: The Final Chapters from the movies’ writer and director Malcolm D. Lee and former Insecure executive producer Dayna Lynne North.

The core star-studded original cast from the movies are set to return, including Morris Chestnut, Melissa De Sousa, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Terrence Howard, Sanaa Lathan, Nia Long and Harold Perrineau. I hear the actors all recently closed significant seven-figure deals to reprise their roles in the series, which is eying a September start. The only missing original Best Man cast member is Monica Calhoun whose character died in the sequel, The Best Man Holiday, which was released more than seven years ago.

“We’re excited to reunite this beloved cast for a limited series run of The Best Man for Peacock,” said Susan Rovner, Chairman, Entertainment Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “With a powerhouse duo like Malcolm and Dayna at the helm, fans will fall in love with our favorite group of friends all over again.”

Based on the eponymous film franchise written and directed by Lee, the series will catch up with Harper, Robyn, Jordan, Lance, Quentin, Shelby, Candace, and Murch as relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance.

“Here we go! The band is back together! I am very excited to bring these iconic characters back to the fans who have supported us through this franchise,” said Lee. “We are thrilled to deliver everything one would expect from this group of friends in The Best Man universe and take them through their final chapters. We can’t wait! I told you it wouldn’t be 14 more years.”

Lee followed up The Best Man franchise with two more very successful feature comedies for Universal, Girls Trip and Night School, which he produced and directed. In 2018, he expanded his relationship with the studio to television, signing a first-look deal with Universal TV.

2020-21 Peacock Pilots & Series Orders

“When Malcolm joined the UTV family, our first conversation was about our collective desire to bring his groundbreaking Universal feature franchise to television,” Universal Television President Erin Underhill said. “Three years and one pandemic later, we’re on the brink of doing just that. I’m thrilled for us all to see this goal come to fruition.”

North is a new creative team addition to The Best Man franchise, but she is a longtime fan of the movies.

“The Best Man films were a cultural touchstone during my college days — and they’ve remained influential pop culture references to this day,” she said. “I’ve grown up laughing with these characters, copying their dance moves, and grieving at their losses. I am overjoyed to be partnering with Malcolm D. Lee and this amazing cast to adapt this iconic franchise at Peacock.”

The Best Man: The Final Chapters is produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. The series is written and executive produced by Malcolm D. Lee via his Blackmaled Productions and Dayna Lynne North of Loud Sis Productions. Sean Daniel, of Hivemind, who produced The Best Man Holiday, will also serve as executive producer. Sheila Walcott will oversee for Blackmaled Productions.

In the original 1999 romantic comedy-drama movie, produced by Spike Lee, old college friends reunite for a wedding. It was followed by a Christmas-themed sequel, The Best Man Holiday, released in November 2013. Both films were box office hits. The original grossed $34 million domestically on a $9 million budget. The 2013 followup earned $70 million. A third film in the series, The Best Man Wedding, also  written and to be directed by Lee, was announced by Universal in 2014 with a planned release in 2016, but it was never made, largely because of scheduling issues.

Last year, Diggs revealed that a third installment of The Best Man franchise may be finally happening but as a streaming series.

On Peacock, The Best Man: The Final Chapters will join a number of revivals and reboots of iconic Universal titles, including Saved By the Bell, Punky Brewster and Battlestar Galactica. Additionally, Universal TV is rebooting The Equalizer as a TV series for CBS.

Lee, who executive produced the NBC Night School comedy pilot, has another NBC pilot, At That Age, on which he is creator, executive producer and director. In features, Lee has Space Jam: A New Legacy for Warner Brothers/HBO Max. Lee’s Blackmaled Productions banner has several projects in development including I Almost Forgot About You (Universal), an adaptation of Terry McMillan’s novel with Viola Davis, The Classic (Universal), Real Talk (Universal), and Rock the Bells (Fox). Lee is repped by A3 Artists Agency and Del Shaw Moonves.

North is co-writing and executive producing Young Love, the upcoming series adaptation of the Oscar-winning short Hair Love. She recently was a writer/executive producer on Insecure, co-created by and starring Issa Rae. North is repped by CAA and Narrative.

Daniel and his company are also executive producers on The Witcher at Netflix and The Expanse at Amazon.

Chestnut is repped by Verve and LINK Entertainment. De Sousa is with A3 Artists Agency and Meyer & Downs. Diggs is repped by ICM Partners. Howard is repped by Universal Bridges. Lathan is with CAA and Morris Yorn Barnes. Long is repped by Verve, Untitled Entertainment and Meyer & Downs. Perrineau is repped by Gersh and Anonymous Content.

Amazon Studios, Davis Entertainment and Malcolm D. Lee’s Blackmaled Productions are partnering on a coming-of-age movie musical titled Brotherly, which will be based on the music of R&B supergroup Boyz II Men.

Brotherly will follows a group of men who, according to the project’s synopsis, “will return to West Philadelphia for a high school reunion 20 years after having gone their separate ways — eventually finding hope, redemption and a new understanding of the enduring power of friendship.”

In addition to producing, Lee is also in talks to direct the project, which will be written by Marcus Gardley, who is behind the upcoming The Color Purplemovie musical adaptation as well as Marvin Gaye biopic What’s Going On.

From Philadelphia, Boyz II Men is known for emotional ballads that are peppered with a cappella harmonies, gaining prominence in the ’90s and earning four Grammy Awards throughout their three-decade career. The group’s prominent singles include “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday,” “End of the Road,” “On Bended Knee” and “I’ll Make Love to You.”

John Davis and John Fox, who were most recently in theaters with Disney’s Jungle Cruise, will produce the project with Lee via his Blackmaled Productions. Eric Bromberg, Joe Mulvihill, Davis Entertainment’s Jeremy Stein and Sheila Walcott will executive produce, as well as Boyz II Men’s Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman.

Lee, repped by A3 and Del Shaw, was last behind the camera for Warner Bros. tentpole Space Jam: A New Legacy. Gardley, repped by WME, Manage-ment and Jackaway Austin, has a first-look television deal with Amazon. His previous screen credits include the series Maid, Foundation, and The Chi.

Boyz II Men are repped by ICM Partners

EXCLUSIVE: Malcolm D. Lee is taking over the directing reins on Warner Bros./SpringHill Entertainment’s Space Jam 2 from Terence Nance.

We hear that Nance’s departure from the project was amicable, and essentially the filmmaker and the studio/producers had different takes on the creative vision for Space Jam 2.

Lee’s track record in comedy speaks for itself and his wit fits hand-in-hand with the sensibility of Warners’ slapstick Looney Tunes. In 2017, Lee’s Girls Trip was the only comedy to work at the domestic box office both in regards to opening and final take ($31.2M, $115.1M) with a star-making performance by Tiffany Haddish. Last year, Lee also had the best opening and gross for a pure major studio comedy with Haddish-Kevin Hart movie Night School ($27.2M opening, $77.3M). Both titles were released by Universal.

Nance created the HBO TV series Random Acts of Flyness and directed the indie pic The Oversimplification of Her Beauty.

Producers on Space Jam 2 — which is set to tip off July 16, 2021 — are Ryan Coogler, NBA star LeBron James under his SpringHill Entertainment label, Duncan Henderson, and Maverick Carter of SpringHill. EPs are Justin Lin, Sev Ohanian and Jamal Henderson.

Deadline exclusively announced last week that Don Cheadle was joining James in the live action-animation hybrid.

Lee is repped by Paradigm and Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano.

Released in 1996, Space Jam made grossed over $230M at the global box office.

EXCLUSIVE: Hot off the success of Night School which is on its way to clicking past $40M worldwide by the end of today, the pic’s director Malcolm D. Lee is back in business with Universal for the romantic ensemble comedy How to Fall in Love with Anyone. 

The studio is developing the project, inspired by Mandy Len Catron’s New York Times viral article “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This”, with Lee’s Blackmaled Productions banner. Raamla Mohamed (ABC’s Scandal) and Ryan Richmond (Money Matters) will pen the script.  Todd Hoffman will produce for his Storied Media Group, alongside Lee.

In Catron’s article she focuses on a 1997 SUNY Stony Brook study in which psychologist Arthur Aron explored whether intimacy between two perfect strangers could be accelerated by having them ask each other 36 personal questions. As they go along, each question becomes increasingly personal and intense with inquires like: “Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?” or “For what in your life do you feel most grateful?”. Such questions proved to bring together countless couples and in some cases save marriages.

Melanie N. Clark, SVP, Production & Development for Blackmaled Productions will oversee the project, alongside Universal VP of Production Sara Scott and Creative Executive Christine Sun.

Lee has made six movies with Universal going all the way back to 1999’s The Best Man in total grossing close to $400M worldwide; his highest grossing title for the studio and himself being last summer’s comedy pinnacle Girls Trip which totaled $140.3M WW and launched Tiffany Haddish as a leading star. Lee is represented by Paradigm Talent Agency and Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano; Mohamed is represented by UTA and Ziffren Brittenham and Richmond is represented by 3 Arts Entertainment.

EXCLUSIVE: Malcolm D. Lee is set to produce The Untitled Double Dutch Project at Universal, based off an original idea by Thembi Banks which she will write.

The story we hear will revolve around the journey of a coach and his double-dutch jump rope team.

Banks is currently the co-producer on the Untitled Hilde Lysiak Project for Apple, and she’s a 2018 HBO Directing Fellow, and was a 2017 Directing Fellow for Film Independent’s Project Involve.

Lee will produce Double Dutch under his banner Blackmaled Productions. Universal Vice President of Production Sara Scott is overseeing the project on behalf of the studio.

Radha Blank, who penned episodes of 'Empire' and 'She's Gotta Have It,' will write the script.

Just ahead of the opening of his Universal movie, Night School, director Malcolm D. Lee is reuniting with the studio for a new comedy.

Lee and Universal are developing Real Talk, an homage to old-school hip-hop that will be penned by Radha Blank, a writer whose credits include episodes of Empire and She’s Gotta Have it.

EXCLUSIVE: Twentieth Century Fox Film has acquired Rock the Bells, a pitch from Girls Trip director Malcolm D. Lee. He will direct the hybrid Christmas family comedy, which will be written by Malcolm Spellman and Dalan Musson. Lee and Tajamika Paxton will produce under Lee’s Blackmaled Productions banner. Melanie Clark, VP Production and Development for Blackmaled Productions, will oversee.

Vanessa Morrison, Nate Hopper and Karen Toliver will oversee for the studio. They are keeping the specifics under wraps, but it is a good time for Lee, coming off the sleeper summer hit Girls Trip, the first $100 million-grossing film with an all-African-American creative team in front of  and behind the camera. Lee reteamed with producer Will Packer and is currently shooting Night School, starring Kevin Hart and Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Haddish.

EXCLUSIVE: Universal Pictures has has won an auction and has optioned from The Jackal Group the rights to Terry McMillan’s bestseller I Almost Forgot About You,which the studio will mount a star vehicle for Oscar-winning Fences star Viola Davis, with Girls Trip helmer Malcolm D. Lee directing. The Jackal Group’s Gail Bermanand Joe Earley, who acquired McMillan’s novel back back in May, are producing alongside Davis, her husband and JuVee Productions partner Julius Tennon, and Lee and his Blackmaled Productions banner. Bidding on the package was competitive.

Ron Bass, the Oscar winning scripter of Rain Man and My Best Friend’s Wedding, will write the script with McMillan. They teamed on two other McMillan novel feature adaptations, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Waiting To Exhale. Those films fueled strong vehicles for Angela Bassett, and Whitney Houston, Bassett, Loretta Devine and Lela Rochon. Now, Davis gets her turn.