David Ellison's plan to rebuild: 'Top Gun 3', 'Star Trek'

Tech Sion David Ellison and his leadership team in Paramount sent a message to Hollywood: a new era is underway.

Almost a week after taking the keys to the Maltated Media Company, Ellison and its senior executives met with reporters in the Paramount Pictures lot on Wednesday to show that they refer to businesses.

Ellison and his team will be based in Hollywood, not in New York, and plan to see the entertainment industry through a California lens making large investments, relying on technology and based on popular franchises, including “Top Gun”, “Star Trek” and “Yellowstone”.

Last week, Skydance Media de Ellison and its sponsor Redbird Capital Partners closed their acquisition of $ 8 billion of the company that includes CBS, Comedy Central, MTV Networks, Showtime and The Melrose Avenue Movie Studio.

“One of our greatest priorities is to restore Paramount as the number 1 destination for the most talented artists and filmmakers,” Ellison said. “Very simply, the big filmmakers are great movies.”

Such a primary return would be very delayed.

The film study has suffered decades of underestimation, it was often avoided by many of Hollywood's largest filmmakers. The study plans to release eight films next year, but that is too small production to maintain a theater film business, said Paramount executives.

The plan is almost double the number of films at 15 and, and finally, 20 films a year.

Ellison, 42 -year -old president and executive director was anxious to bury his days of being a political objective, after the long regulatory review of President Trump's agreement and demand against CBS for his editions of an “60 minutes” interview with Kamala Harris last fall. Paramount resolved the lawsuit last month, agreeing to pay $ 16 million.

Days later, CBS notified Stephen Colbert that he was finishing his night interview program in May, which caused howls among some fans and raising speculation that the program was sacrificed to appease Trump. CBS has said that the decision was “purely” based on the economy; The show has been losing money.

The program will be created with a broad audience in mind, Ellison and their lieutenants said. Ellison said his goal is to move the company from political divisions to reach a broader audience.

“One of the things that I think is important is that I don't want to politicize this company,” Ellison said. “First we are an entertainment company, and I really believe that if you are breathing, you are our audience. We want to be in the business of talking with everyone.”

For Ellison, movies have been an interest in life. He told his days as he grew when he, his mother and sister went to the movies or chose from his extensive homemade library of video cassette tapes.

He intends to “significantly climb” the amount of content produced by the study and has entrusted his deputy Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, a former Sony executive, as co -chants of Paramount Pictures. The study plans to concentrate on key intellectual property such as “Star Trek”, “World War Z” and “Transformers”, with Goldberg saying that “Star Trek” is a priority throughout the company.

Paramount executives are also interested in original films promoted by filmmakers. At the end of last week, Paramount said he got an original project called “High Side”, led by the director of “a complete stranger” James Mangold, who brings him together with actor Timothée Chalamet.

In addition, Paramount Pictures plans Greenlight's familiar films, with classic films such as “The Goonies”, “Gremlins” and “Night at The Museum” as touch stones, Goldberg said. There is also interest in comedies, horror and stories with R classification that attract Central America.

Paramount has no plans to expel low -cost movies for its Paramount+transmission platform, said Cindy Holland, the new transmission head for Paramount.

“The films we make will be made for Theater,” Ellison said, adding that there is a cultural meaning to make films for the big screen.

Ellison also praised actor Tom Cruise, whom he met when he founded his media company Skydance in 2010. Skydance Copodujo “Top Gun: Maverick” and recent deliveries “Mission: Impossible”. Goldberg reported how she and Greenstein called Cruise after Paramount released her new leadership structure.

“It was to thank him, frankly, the huge piece that has been in the history of Paramount, the present of Paramount and how important it is for the future of Paramount,” Goldberg said. “'Top Gun 3' is a massive priority for us.”

The new corporate property structure gives the family of Larry Ellison (David's billionaire father) and Redbird the ability to build the company for the future, instead of managing the profits of a quarter of quarter.

The Ellison family now has 50% of the company, and Redbird owns 20%, a dominant position. Regular shareholders have 30% of the shares in the new company. The shares rose more than 36% on Wednesday at $ 15.

The event included Ellison's coinversor, the founder of Redbird, Gerry Cardinale, who emphasized his confidence in Paramount's perspectives.

Cardinale said she sent two of her senior executives to join the company: Andy Gordon, a former Goldman Sachs banker is now the director of Operations of Paramount and strategy director, and Jeff Shell, the former NBCuniversal executive who is now the president of Paramount, to mean the importance of the reconstruction.

“I bet on my company and my career in this agreement,” said Cardinale.

The president of Paramount, David Ellison, on the left, and executive Cindy Holland.

(Supreme)

On Wednesday, the Supreme Shareholder Mario Gabelli sued Redstone and Paramount, claiming that the structure of the agreement disadvantaged the shareholders from Redstone, who received a premium for their actions.

As part of the agreement, the Redstone family received $ 2.4 billion for its National Amusements Inc. firm, which had the controlling actions. After paying their considerable debts, the family must leave with $ 1.75 billion. Class B shareholders from Paramount received $ 15 per share.

Skydance and Redbird have promised investors that you will find $ 2 billion in cost savings, which means greater adjustment and layoffs. Shell said he didn't want Paramount to become a company that had perpetual dismissals, saying that the plan was to have a restructuring and “then end it.”

Executives also did not show interest in climbing cable channels, unlike Comcast or Warner Bros. Discovery, who are preparing for splits. Shell said the decreased state of the channels gives the company opportunities to rebuild these brands.

In their first week, Ellison and Redbird have made great bets. On Monday, the company said it would spend $ 7.7 billion in seven years to block the transmission and television rights of the United States for mixed martial arts struggles for the Paramount+ and CBS transmission service.

In addition, Paramount in Julio agreed to pay $ 1.25 billion for five years to the creators of “South Park” by Comedy Central. A separate agreement with Trey Parker and Matt Stone allows the cartoon to execute exclusively in Paramount+.

When he was asked what Paramount's assets they underestimated, Ellison talked about the wide range of CBS, which has just finished the regular television season in the first place in the scratch between the transmission networks during the 17th consecutive year. He also mentioned CBS's relationship with the NFL, the Masters Golf Tournament and the madness of the NCAA March.

Gordon added: “In fact, I think each asset is underestimated here.”