It looks like Denzel Washington and his go-to director will have to wait a little longer to work their magic together… their highly anticipated film has been put on hold.
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Indeed, it seems like Hannibal’s conquest of Hollywood will have to wait. According to Deadline, Netflix has pumped the brakes on pre-production of its untitled epic drama. The film, which was set to star Washington as the legendary ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal, with frequent collaborator Antoine Fuqua at the helm, has been put on indefinite hold.
The film was set to shoot in Italy later this year. However, it has been paused while producers and Netflix work out the budget. Both sides reportedly remain hopeful that the project will move forward on the platform.
The film would have marked Fuqua’s sixth collaboration with Washington, this time following Hannibal’s pivotal campaigns against Rome during the Second Punic War (218–201 B.C.). The project had a screenplay by John Logan, whose résumé includes Gladiator, The Aviator, and Skyfall. With The Odyssey currently conquering the box office, it seems audiences have quite the appetite for another period epic led by a veteran actor. Too bad this one’s stuck in Carthage for now.
Of course, both Washington and Fuqua remain in high demand. Fuqua is fresh off Michael, currently the highest-grossing live-action film of 2026. Meanwhile, Washington is set to appear alongside Robert Pattinson in Fernando Meirelles’ Here Comes the Flood, due out this fall.
Here’s hoping the budget battle wraps up faster than the Second Punic War did. If not, surely Washington and Fuqua will find another juicy project to collaborate on soon.