Universal Is Getting Cold Feet on Releasing the Elon Musk Documentary (Exclusive)

When it screened at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month, Musk got the kind of reception every international distributor dreams about.

Attendees applauded enthusiastically for five minutes and saluted director Alex Gibney , even shouting “thank you” inside the festival’s Sala Grande for his hard-hitting investigation into the world’s richest man.

But despite that instant and reassuring focus group, Universal Pictures , which controls worldwide rights to the film outside of North America, now appears to be having second thoughts on a documentary it paid a significant sum to acquire.

The company has not dated the movie, has rather unusually not communicated much with the filmmaking team about its plans, and generally appears to be rethinking the release of a project it once showed high enthusiasm for but that is now politically sensitive to parts of the Trump administration.

Two people with knowledge of the dynamic who were not authorized to speak publicly tell The Hollywood Reporter that while a final decision has not been made and that several outcomes were possible, they believed that Universal would ultimately decide against releasing the film and return rights to the movie to filmmakers.

When asked what its release plans were for the film, a Universal representative said it had no comment.

The movie is set to premiere in U.S. theaters via the independent Bleecker Street as well as play the London Film Festival next month; both are media-rich affairs that a studio usually times with a release in the U.K. and even across the European continent.

But Universal has made no such plans.

Gibney did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

If Universal opts against releasing the movie, it would mark an extraordinary reversal at a moment when media companies are already under scrutiny for bowing to political pressure.

Amazon backed out of releasing Artificial as it got into business with Sam Altman’s OpenAI, while ABC News and Paramount/CBS News each paid millions to settle lawsuits with the Trump administration many legal experts felt would be quickly dismissed.

Universal would be required to pay filmmakers a kill fee not to release the movie, according to a person familiar with the deal’s structure.

The filmmakers would then be free to sell it anew, essentially allowing it to profit twice off the same rights sale.

The film would not struggle to be seen around the world no matter what happens.