Black Panther director Ryan Coogler and Michael B. Jordan are taking on vampires next

The untitled genre thriller from Black Panther director Ryan Coogler and actor Michael B. Jordan is a vampire flick, and Hollywood's all over it.

After news broke last week that the longtime collaborators were reteaming for an original movie, it seems like the temperature around the package has risen quite a bit. Now, Deadline is reporting that only Sony, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Universal are "battling it out for a deal that would allow Coogler to start production this summer."

According to Deadline, the movie is supposed to be "a period genre film that is a true star vehicle for Jordan," with talk of a production budget of around $90 million being thrown around. In smaller letters, we can also learn that the movie's actually a vampire flick. Moreover, "there also has been discussion of potential co-ownership of the IP, as well as potential 'put' pictures for Coogler and his Proximity Media."

Following the huge success of Coogler's two Black Panther movies at Disney/Marvel and his ongoing efforts as producer, a large deal with the filmmaker could prove fruitful. Stay tuned for more updates in the near future about this movie, since the studios seem to be quite confident about its potential.

This might also indicate that Coogler's done with Marvel Studios — at least when it comes to directing future Black Panther installments — and is looking to cash in his influence to get more original projects going. Looking at the mess that Blade's pre-production has been so far and Coogler's interest in the vampire subgenre, one has to wonder why Marvel didn't try to attach the director to the project. Maybe they did and the creative juices weren't mixing well together, who knows.