Big plans in the world of Paramount, who are still waiting for their proposed takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
David Ellison’s team have been out and about speaking with exhibitors, telling them how Paramount Skydance sees things. Two of the big boys, AMC and Regal, have been making positive noises about what was revealed to them.
This is not altruism, this is to garner support from exhibitors of the $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. that opponents are making antitrust noises about.
Bloomberg reports that Paramount has guaranteed these exhibitors 30 movies per year, over three years, from the deal should it go through.
The deal would also guarantee at least 45 days theatrical exhibition and that the film would not be available on SVOD for at least 90 days. Happy times for exhibitors.
This is Ellison offering to put into writing what he has been talking about for months in the lead up to the deal.
The finer points of the deal are yet to be fully revealed. No mention of penalties, or loopholes, or marketing guarantees.
Ellison is pushing hard for full leveraging of all Paramount IP, including more Transformers, Star Trek, and G.I. Joe.
Will other studios respond?
After lower output volumes into theaters for years, mainly due to second and third level home entertainment revenue being harder for studios to obtain, with it coming from various streamers and other channel providers, is this how we start to return to the 90s level of theatrical output?
