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When Jim Gianopulos held his Zoom farewell call with Paramount senior executives on September 13, the entire group had a background image of The Godfather – Marlon Brando with Robert Duvall whispering in his ear. This mute, multi-layered homage to films (and allusion to betrayal?) Added intensity to an already moving appeal. Strangled, Gianopulos ended the meeting early.
If you look between a rock and a hard place, you will find his remains there. You could argue that the former Paramount chief was stuck between the determination – if not desperation – of ViacomCBS President Shari Redstone to nurture and build Paramount + on one side and, say, Tom Cruise’s franchises like Impossible mission or more Top Gun: Maverick the other. Clearly, Cruise isn’t the only great talent in business with Paramount, but he does have symbolic value: There is no star in the world more empowered and determined to champion a traditional and exclusive theatrical release for her. movies.
Not everyone is or can be as tough on this point as Cruise. But Paramount has a bunch of movies – either with the green light or at some stage in production – with major players whose deals were made with the assumption of a traditional theatrical release. After signaling what appears to be a difficult pivot for streaming by replacing Gianopulos with Nickelodeon chief Brian Robbins, ViacomCBS may have plunged into yet another round of fights that involved WarnerMedia and Disney.
Sources from ViacomCBS told reporters in the background that the company is still engaged in theaters. But so far, none of the company’s official statements have mentioned an ongoing commitment to those image palaces upon which founder Sumner Redstone built his media empire.
There was no language on this in the statements ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish and Robbins sent to staff. The press release announcing that Robbins “will assume oversight of films produced for Paramount +” is silent on who would oversee the release of major motion pictures. On September 14, ViacomCBS CFO Naveen Chopra praised the challenges of theater at a virtual investor conference, saying: business, including theatrical distribution as well as new parts of the business, such as streaming and changes in consumer behavior.
Robbins has his work cut out for him. Paramount + is still a severely undernourished group – it has between 12 and 15 million total subscribers, according to a source. (ViacomCBS, in its August earnings report, noted that its global paid streaming subscribers exceeded 42 million, but that figure also includes Showtime and other niche services like Noggin.) Some of Paramount’s creative partners don’t are not eager to see their projects used to build it. up. While money often resolves disputes over release plans, ViacomCBS doesn’t seem to have much.
Among the films whose project is exclusively cinematographic, let us quote that of Damien Chazelle Babylon, with Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, and The lost city, with Channing Tatum and Sandra Bullock. And the rest of Sonic the hedgehog? Robbins will have to talk to contentious producer Neal Moritz, who is said to be adamantly opposed to anything other than a theatrical release. Same Jackass forever has a deal for an exclusive theatrical release – and the filmmakers have reportedly insisted on that.
So much potential for conflict, and then there’s Cruise, who was reportedly even unhappy when Bakish said in March that Mission: Impossible 7 would debut on the service after 45 days in theaters. (Naturally, Cruise wants his usual 90-day minimum. But at least it’s not Christopher Nolan, who demanded 110 days for his next project.)
Now Paramount is expected to become primarily a reseller of low cost and, many suspects, mediocre movies for its streamer. ViacomCBS may well sell the Paramount lot, as it sold Black Rock, CBS’s original headquarters in midtown Manhattan, in August. The old Hollywood empire is quickly collapsing: Fox is gone, long-troubled MGM is likely to become a record label at Amazon, and now Paramount is what it is about to become.
Ironic, isn’t it? ViacomCBS named its service for the legendary movie studio, but is now only part of Robbins’ vast portfolio, which includes everything for kids and young adults: Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr ., TeenNick, Nicktoons, Nickelodeon Studios, and Awesome. (Robbins did not take on the title of president of Gianopulos; he is president and CEO of the movie studio.)
While Robbins is widely regarded and has a lot of connections and experience in film and television – he has realized University blues and North, executive produced many seasons of A tree hill and produced a slew of forgettable films – a senior executive at a rival company said, “Brian Robbins, as far as I know, has never directed or supervised a ‘wow’ movie in his life.” This helps explain why Gianopulos had brushed aside rumors of his own ouster. After all, he was making a bunch of movies to stream it, just like Redstone wanted. And he had executed a major turnaround, firing a studio that was bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars when it took over in 2017 for hundreds of millions in profits.
But in August, Robbins released Paw Patrol: The Movie, with its modest budget and day-to-date release as well as brand links and merchandising opportunities. And that’s exactly what Redstone thinks it must have if it is to ever hope to turn ViacomCBS into something that can be sold.
It would be nice to have the big movies on the service as well, of course. But the cost of that is sure to be intimidating. The company may have wanted to launch the service with A Quiet Place, Part II, for example, but John Krasinski’s reps surely suggested that their client be paid based on the price a competitor might have paid to broadcast the film. They might also have asked for a guaranteed sequel, as movies on streamers don’t often get them. Netflix paid around $ 465 million for two sequels to Knives Out. Universal pays around $ 400 million for a Exorcist trilogy.
Can Robbins solve this dilemma? A ViacomCBS source says it can. “Contrary to [WarnerMedia CEO] Jason Kilar or some of the other executives who are trying to bridge that gap between where the industry is and where he is now, he obviously has a long history as an actor, director, showrunner, producer, ”that person said. But an executive at another studio says, intentionally or not, that Robbins’ choice sends a Kilarish signal.
And theatrical movies aside, there’s the question of whether Robbins can make any movies for the service that can make Paramount + an attractive acquisition target. Making movies quickly and cheaply is one thing, but a senior executive at another media company observes that it’s not the only key to success. “What people forget in a creative endeavor,” he says, “is unless you have good movies, none of that matters.”
Alex Weprin contributed to this report.
This story first appeared in the September 15 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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