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Paramount "retreating" from big theatrical productions. Focus on remakes and content.

CrichtonKicks

CrichtonKicks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,186
Critch said:
I heard that the only reason that book exists is to stop Paramount from making another movie.
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Kind of the opposite. Groom threatened to sue Paramount over the lack of profits on the original movie. Because of Hollywood Math Paramount claimed Forrest Gump lost money and wouldn't pay him any of his contractual percentage of the net profits. As part of a make good deal to avoid a potential lawsuit Paramount paid Groom over a million for film rights for the sequel book.
 
VinylCassette64

VinylCassette64

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
2,422
Brian Robbins was barely the head of Nickelodeon for what, two years; and now he's running Paramount? The fuck's going on with the studio hierarchy? They literally couldn't find anybody else to take the job?

As some of the other people have already stated; failing upwards doesn't even begin to describe the result of the director of A Thousand Words, Norbit, Meet Dave et. al. running one of the major film studios.

Since they're clearly banking on Paramount+ and cheaper content to be their major saving grace, they probably won't end up experiencing any colossal financial flips like they did during the mid-2010s (hi Monster Trucks!). But from a creative standpoint I'm…really expecting very little good to come out of this new direction.
 
PanSexual_Peacock

PanSexual_Peacock

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,699
King Kingo said:
I'd argue that they do, they just haven't been utilising it smartly. Phase 1 of the MCU was distributed by Paramount with the Avengers being a joint distribution deal between Paramount and Disney.

ViacomCBS as a company just doesn't have the smarts to actually understand why their intellectual property is appealing to general audiences.
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Not anymore. Aside from MI and Transformers, they don't have any reliable blockbusters that compete with Disney and WB. Two ain't enough. They had their chance at the MCU and blew it.
 
riboflavinrobot

riboflavinrobot

Member
Nov 15, 2020
347
Movie studios are like gas stations for me. Completely interchangeable, I forget who owns what as soon as I'm through with em. With the possible exception of Disney, I'd really have to think what studio made each one of my favorite films and television shows. I know Paramount has a pedigree, they've been around forever, but if they slow their output I have no doubt another studio will jump in and fill the void.
 
Mekanos

Mekanos

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,127
This is something I felt was inevitable, especially when Paramount Plus launched and I saw how pitiful its lineup was. It's crazy how 20-30 years ago it felt like any of these big studios could make successful movies and now certain studios are falling behind just for not owning the right IPs.
 
Senator Toadstool

Senator Toadstool

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
16,651
p
imbarkus said:
"Art"

quibi uber alles

Let dinosaurs die
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none of that has anything to do with your denigration of theaters. if anything streaming will produce more of that. In fact I was driving down the freeway today and paramount is has billboards for some shitty nickelodeon streaming only movie

Sure love this efficiency future!
 

Deleted member 17860

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,198
Ottaro said:
Yeah but do we really think these will continue when Tom Cruise is done?
I'm just assuming that they have been making the next two back-to-back because Cruise knows he cant do these forever.
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i think they know most ppl are done with them, when tom is... the whole reason to watch MI movies is becasue of the missle... its not the same as james bond.. or anything like that... im sure they will reboot them years after but yeah... those are legit the only Paramount movies i even care about lol
 
Starphanluke

Starphanluke

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Nov 15, 2017
7,331
I would say tried-and-true stuff like Mission Impossible, Sonic, Avatar (TLA) and (maybe, if the movie that's already filming does well) Transformers. Those seem like the only real franchises they'd continue.

Also worth noting that the deal with Hasbro is up for renewal next week. I could see Hasbro taking Transformers to another film company.
 
Soapbox Killer

Soapbox Killer

Member
Oct 28, 2017
27,093
Should have made G.I. Joe vs The Transformers and printed monies.

They could have taken the NEST team and made them the Joes and printed monies.
 
Starphanluke

Starphanluke

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Member
Nov 15, 2017
7,331
If Hasbro were to shop Transformers film/TV rights to other companies, I wonder if Disney would be interested. The two already have a close relationship. I think Disney is the only company that could afford to make a live-action Transformers show, and it would definitely be a good property for Disney+ if it were done with the tone of Bumblebee.
 
imbarkus

imbarkus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,645
Senator Toadstool said:
p

none of that has anything to do with your denigration of theaters. if anything streaming will produce more of that. In fact I was driving down the freeway today and paramount is has billboards for some shitty nickelodeon streaming only movie

Sure love this efficiency future!
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Movies deningrated theaters, I have not. Theaters were denigrated when actors and crew left them and replaced themselves with projectors.
Live theatre has been with us for thousands of years. Movies for a hundred.

Video games have denigrated retail disc distribution. Before home game systems, they existed in arcades, for people to come to and enjoy video games all together. Arcades still exist... but it's not a growth business.
 
Ridley327

Ridley327

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,465
Georgia (the state, not the country)
OneThirtyEight said:
So we are fucked when it comes to a new Friday The 13th theatrical release?
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Despite how involved Paramount has been with the series since its inception, the legal battle over the rights to the series has nothing to do with them at all. It's all going to come down to Sean Cunningham and Victor Miller playing nice with each other, and Cunningham has been fighting too damn hard to make it all his to make me think that playing nice is ever going to be in the cards.
 
OneThirtyEight

OneThirtyEight

Avenger
Oct 28, 2017
5,652
Ridley327 said:
Despite how involved Paramount has been with the series since its inception, the legal battle over the rights to the series has nothing to do with them at all. It's all going to come down to Sean Cunningham and Victor Miller playing nice with each other, and Cunningham has been fighting too damn hard to make it all his to make me think that playing nice is ever going to be in the cards.
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Oh right, i forgot about this. Cunningham has been fighting the franchise since he "got it back" in the 90's when he did not want Jason in the mask for Jason Goes To Hell.
 
focusedmaple

focusedmaple

Member
Oct 27, 2017
207
It feels like the future of movies is in the home, at least for the next few years. If the theaters survive, then there might be a renaissance. But nothing lasts forever, and the world moves along with or without us, our hopes, and our needs.
 
Rob

Rob

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,079
SATX
Starphanluke said:
If Hasbro were to shop Transformers film/TV rights to other companies, I wonder if Disney would be interested. The two already have a close relationship. I think Disney is the only company that could afford to make a live-action Transformers show, and it would definitely be a good property for Disney+ if it were done with the tone of Bumblebee.
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Paramount has their own streaming service, so I just don't see them working with Disney for D+ content.
 
Ether_Snake

Ether_Snake

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
11,306
Theatres impose more creative constraints. Moving away from them is for the best. There is only so much you can do with a two hour runtime before it turns into something highly formulaic. Streaming content just has fewer constraints. So it's for the best in the end.

Also better for the environment, and the content is more accessible regardless of where you live.
 
vinnygambini

vinnygambini

Member
Dec 11, 2018
1,338
I mean… this has been par of the course for Paramount for quite some time.

Moving forward Paramount theatrical films will most likely consist of Transformers, MI, A Quiet Place, Sonic, and Nickelodeon fare - the remaining will be relegated to P+.
 
BlastProcessing

BlastProcessing

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,276
Ether_Snake said:
Theatres impose more creative constraints. Moving away from them is for the best. There is only so much you can do with a two hour runtime before it turns into something highly formulaic. Streaming content just has fewer constraints. So it's for the best in the end.

Also better for the environment, and the content is more accessible regardless of where you live.
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Constraints are often a good thing with art.
 
Darknight

Darknight

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,806
Ether_Snake said:
Anyone can still make movies of typical movie lengths. Kind of tired of the usual three-act structure stories told in two-hour formats.
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There's a wealth of TV shows out there that fits your bill; I'm not sure why we need to blow up or redesign the concept of a movie when there's that option out there.
 

Pheonix Will

Member
Sep 6, 2021
1,251
So far very pleased with the Stat Trek Content, but I would appreciate a theatrical release here and there. Always nice to see it on the big screen.

I hope the avatar content is fantastic, if it's of good quantity and quality I have no complaints.
 
NotVeryFriendly

NotVeryFriendly

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,667
Ether_Snake said:
Theatres impose more creative constraints. Moving away from them is for the best. There is only so much you can do with a two hour runtime before it turns into something highly formulaic. Streaming content just has fewer constraints. So it's for the best in the end.

Also better for the environment, and the content is more accessible regardless of where you live.
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I mean there's a degree of irony in this given the particular thread it's being posted in. While I do agree streaming removes some constraints involved in movie production, streaming also introduces new constraints and one of the biggest of them is in relation to budget and performance reporting. Quantifying the success of a streaming movie is much more complex and comes with more caveats than the typical theatre release model (although it does have benefits in terms of financial reporting; you can more easily distribute the cost of a production over a far longer time period and turn unprofitable ventures into profitable ones via reporting trickery), and as of now it imposes a significant cap on the revenue which can be attributed to a single movie particularly when the model's success depends on a continuous stream of content to boost the user retention rate and the vastly increased power to understand (and optimise towards and A/B test) what's driving user behaviour poses risk to financing ventures which don't conform to those trends. Ultimately this adds a strong reason to more harshly cap the potential budget for a movie (versus a traditional release) which can impose creative constraints for productions which might demand more significant budgets but be riskier ventures.

That's not to say a direct-to-consumer sales channel might not result in gains versus theatres but it's definitely an experimental channel for distributers in its current form. The streaming of movies will likely grow in prominence, but it's definitely not as simple as just being a matter of 'streaming has less constraints', rather it simply imposes different creative constraints.
 
Illithid Dude

Illithid Dude

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,363
The irony of this mentality is Paramounts biggest new franchise was an original idea and the last corporate approved remake they shat out was a horrendous bomb
 
ContractHolder

ContractHolder

Jack of All Streams
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Oct 25, 2017
16,208
BringBackSonics said:
there were rumblings years ago that Disney was going to buy Hasbro. I know everyone hates Disney. But Hasbro is one of the few purchases that actually make sense
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Wouldn't that mean Marvel Studios gets to do one or two comic stories again that they couldn't because of Hasbro? Marvel would stay winning.

Also lol, Disney would get Power Rangers again.
 
KoopaTheCasual

KoopaTheCasual

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,736
Lol @ people trying to reason with themselves that this could be a good thing!

This is why people cheering on the death of theaters seemed ridiculously short-sighted. You're gonna get less risky projects. Fact. You'll get massive tentpole franchises (and their remakes) taking up a lionshare of the budget, and then very small/safe movies, like horror movies or Oscar-bait. Middle-tier/risky projects, which often become the fabled "cult classics", are going to become increasingly few and far between.

Was this progression always going to happen: probably. But the pandemic definitely super accelerated the process, and users cheering for it seemed increasingly out of touch with reality.

This is just a sad development, that many of us saw coming. Doesn't make it suck any less tho ):
 
ContractHolder

ContractHolder

Jack of All Streams
Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,208
Primethius said:
As an aside, I'm curious where you live that theaters don't offer the option of the appropriate glasses for subtitles.
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Northeast, but I have friends with similar issues that tell me that's not a good solution. They're uncomfortable.

And again let me be blunt, why is this a better option than just waiting for the movie to go on the distribution method where I can just see subtitles on the screen without putting something on my face?
 
BringBackSonics

BringBackSonics

Member
Oct 27, 2017
45,050
Seattle
CommodoreKong said:
If that happens we better get an official stat block for Mickey Mouse in Dungeons and Dragons.
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ContractHolder said:
Wouldn't that mean Marvel Studios gets to do one or two comic stories again that they couldn't because of Hasbro? Marvel would stay winning.

Also lol, Disney would get Power Rangers again.
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what does Hasbro have? Bug and Rom?

hasbro wouls help fit in a area where admittedly disney has been looking to boost up interest and toy sales in boys 7-12.

you could do a lot with those properties in the parks as wellz
 
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