Paramount Pictures
With the Skydance-Paramount merger closed, the new studio leaders, Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, are getting down to business, and that means a major ramping up of the studio’s film slate.
At a press event in Los Angeles this afternoon, Paramount’s new CEO David Ellison says the priority is to “restore Paramount as the No. 1 studio for filmmakers and talent in the world”. That includes “to strategically scale the amount of content for our streaming service as well as studios.”
In recent years, the cash-hampered studio has pumped out around 11-14 films annually. Now cash-rich Skydance is on board, which will immediately be bumped to 15 with the aim of hitting 20 in the near future.
Deadline reports that the plan is for the new Paramount to bet big on tentpoles. One priority is new “Star Trek” films with Goldberg saying “Star Trek is a priority across the company”. The plan will be to look at the franchise holistically – meaning a likely stronger integration between its film and TV elements with Goldberg adding: “We’re going to make sure those conversations are happening together so that we can do what’s best for the brand as a whole.”
Another is “Top Gun” says Goldberg. Though a third film in that series has not been formally announced, Ehren Krueger has been working on a script for that since 2023. Also surprisingly name checked was “World War Z”.
“Transformers” is also very much alive with three separate scripts in development, including one with Michael Bay attached – those scripts are expected to be reviewed by the top brass soon.
“A Quiet Place Part III” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 2” are still moving forward with their planned 2027 releases, and a live-action version of the Ninja Turtles story “The Last Ronin” is also still very much alive. The first two will join “Sonic the Hedgehog 4,” “The Angry Birds Movie 3” and “Children of Blood & Bone” all slated for 2027.
The Olympics film “Winter Games,” the Ferris Bueller spin-off “Sam & Victor’s Day Off,” the comedy “What Kids Want,” the Matthew McConaughey-led adaptation of the Mike Hammer books, the Lee Isaac Chung-directed “The Traveler,” the Brandon Skelnar-led “The Rescue,” and an untitled David Corenswet film are all still moving foward as well.