The leadership team at Skydance’s Paramount have no interest in playing the original streaming movies game, and doubled down on the importance of robust theatrical releases.
New Paramount CEO David Ellison gathered with top lieutenants at a press gaggle in Los Angeles on Wednesday, where the just-acquired company’s president Jeff Shell fielded questions about theatrical windows (the amount of time a new movie runs in theaters before moving to paid video-on-demand and streaming services).
During his previous tenure as CEO of NBCUniversal, Shell was known to be an aggressive advocate of the landmark deal that Universal Pictures made in 2020 with theater chains like AMC and Cinemark. The mold-busting arrangement permitted Universal to move its films from theaters to PVOD after only 17 days — considerably shorter than the industry standard 90-day exclusive window, where theater owners hope to pack seats and sell concessions before letting the consumer decide to leave the house tor watch a new film at home.
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Variety asked Shell if he’ll be seeking a similar arrangement for Paramount Pictures and global movie theater owners.
“Do I believe you can maximize value in windows? Absolutely, and we’re going to be looking at our windows across [the board],” Shell said, noting he’d spoken this week with AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron. “I don’t think each movie is created equal. Different movies deserve different windows. Theatrical is critical and has to be part of the equation, but we’re going to be much more diligent about looking at the value.”
Ellison went further, saying the “debate was over” about whether straight-to-streaming films had as much impact and value as those supported by long and splashy marketing campaigns, meant to drive consumers to theaters.
Paramount’s new head of streaming, Cindy Holland, said it best and bluntly: “Streaming movies are not a priority for me.”
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