Russo Brothers’ AGBO Films Aiming For Event Films, Including More Avengers Stars

The Russo Brothers are known to main stream audiences for their work with Marvel Studios. Together, Anthony Russo and Joe Russo directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. In conversations about the best Marvel movie, those are titles which often come up. In conversations about the biggest movie of all time, Endgame wears the undisputed crown. However, the duo who earned their stripes with hit episodes of Community are betting on their own successes and taking creative control to new heights with AGBO Films, where they may ultimately define their filmmaker legacies.

Next up for the team at AGBO is Extraction, an action thrill ride starring Thor actor Chris Hemsworth. The film landed at Netflix, the latest partner for AGBO after the Brothers previously distributed Black Panther star Chadwick Boseman‘s 21 Bridges with STX Entertainment. They are currently looking for a home for Tom Holland‘s Cherry (which Russo dubs an Oscar worthy performance). Yes, that’s a lot of names from Avengers movies, something Joe Russo semi-jokes, “it’s going to be a rotating on a roster.”

Jokes aside, the studio does have other Avengers stars in sight. “We’d love to do something with Robert Downey, we’re talking about a few things with him,” Joe Russo told ComicBook.com in an interview on Friday. “There’s another project for talking to [Chris] Evans about, there’s two more projects we’re talking to Hemsworth about. There’s something else we’re talking to Holland about. We love our family, our Marvel family. We all spend a lot of time together, had a lot of laughs together. We enjoy working together and that’s a priority for my brother and I. We have to love the creative aspects of a project as much as we love the people we’re going to go work with on it so that everyone has great quality of life.”

Another partnership with Netflix after Extraction remains a possibility, although there is already one project confirmed between AGBO and the streaming service. The Russo Brothers are teaming up with former President Barack Obama and his family to bring an adaptation of the best seller Exit West to feature-film life.

“It’s our mission to develop big IP for Anthony and I to direct. That’s the focus of the company. But we’re also producing [Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert]’s next movie, [Everything Everywhere All At Once],” Russo explained. “We have a project with the Obama’s, we have a project with Tom Brady, a sports docu. We’re determined to work with fascinating, thoughtful, highly creative individuals. But at the same time, we’re certainly focused on ‘What’s the next big event film we’re going to make?’”

It should come as no surprise, with that wide variety of titles and creative opportunities, that AGBO loved working with Netflix given the amount of creative control offered. “We had an amazing experience working with [Netflix],” Russo said. “They gave us all the creative freedom in the world and all the support, financial support you could possibly ask for. It was just probably one of the best studio experiences we’ve ever had.” Quite a flattering sentiment, considering it’s not unlikely most studios will make offers for films directed or produced by the Russo Brothers, as their name is one of the hottest in Hollywood following their success with Marvel.

By the sounds of it, the sky is the limit for the directing duo who both now serve as Vice Chairmen at AGBO, alongside Mike Larocca. With an all-star roster of actors at their disposal, technical resources within the brand, and the creative power clearly already embedded within them and the filmmakers they partner with, the Russo Brothers might somehow still just be getting started.

Extraction, an AGBO Films production, hits Netflix on April 24. Cherry was expected to release in 2020 ahead of the nationwide theater shutdown, so the team is currently gearing up to lock picture on the film before finding it a home.