Jim Gianopulos exiting Paramount is better news for him than it is for the exhibition!
As the guy who put Paramount in the A QUIET PLACE franchise business, it’s hard to believe his ViacomCBS corporate bosses wouldn’t want to have him around for a few more years.
Friday’s news sparked talk that JG’s departure and Nickelodeon chief Brian Robbins moving up means a greater focus on streaming movies via Paramount+. Getting into streaming was a key goal for ViacomCBS and now it’s competing with other newbies like WB’s HBO Max & Comcast’s Peacock. Event films attract subscribers, but then it takes original series content to keep them once they’ve seen the films that brought them in the door.
Big 2020 Paramount theatrical titles like Eddie Murphy’s COMING 2 AMERICA and Skydance’s THE TOMORROW WAR & WITHOUT REMORSE were sold, before Paramount+ was an option, for big bucks to Amazon for streaming. Now there’s unconfirmed talk that Gianopulos was being pushed to start streaming tentpoles like Tom Cruise’s TOP GUN: MAVERICK (pictured) & MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7 on Paramount+. While that’s not happening right now, anything could be possible down the road.