Once again, Paramount Global is the subject of speculation in Hollywood and Wall Street. There are credible reports that a controlling stake in the media corporation that produces and distributes Star Trek is up for sale.
Control of Paramount Global could be changing
The latest round of speculation in the media started with a report by industry watcher Puck regarding how Shari Redstone is considering selling her controlling stake in Paramount Global. Redstone (via her company National Amusements) owns 10% of Paramount Global, but (more importantly) 80% of the voting shares in the media company. According to the report, which has subsequently been backed by the Wall Street Journal and others, Skydance Media (owned by David Ellison) and private equity firm RedBird Capital are in early talks with Redstone. Skydance has had a long relationship with Paramount, co-producing a number of blockbuster movies, including the last two Star Trek feature films and are also on board for Star Trek 4. The Wall Street Journal reports Redstone has also met with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, who will soon be departing Activision with $400 million following the company’s recent acquisition by Microsoft. So it appears she is at least considering selling her stake in Paramount.
Buying out Redstone is seen as a cheaper way to get control of Paramount Global without having to purchase the company (and its debts) outright. The expectation is that these investors are looking to get access to parts of the company and sell off others. In the case of Skydance, it’s been reported Ellison is most interested in taking over Paramount Pictures, CBS Studios, and all their intellectual property but isn’t interested in the CBS broadcast network, the cable channels, or the streaming components Pluto and Paramount+, home to original Star Trek programming. An analyst from Wells Fargo suggests that Paramount+, which has yet to turn a profit, could be shut down and other unwanted assets would be sold off. What remained could then be merged with Skydance forming a new production-focused studio owning all of Paramount’s properties, including Star Trek.
Since the re-merger of Viacom and CBS in 2019 (creating what is now Paramount Global) the corporation has struggled as it took on more debt to fight in the streaming wars. The stock has underperformed against other media companies, although it has seen a jump in the last few days due to the talk of a sale. Shari Redstone’s goal has been to turn the media company into an attractive takeover target for a larger entity, primarily keeping the company and her family’s legacy together. According to the New York Times, Redstone held talks about such an acquisition with tech giants Amazon and Apple as well as Netflix earlier this year. The Hollywood trades have also speculated that there could be a deal with Warner Bros. Discovery, Comcast, or another media company. It’s still possible a big deal like that could happen. Paramount is considering laying off 1,000 staffers in early 2024 to cut costs, making it a more attractive takeover target. Paramount CEO Bob Bakish and other execs indicated they see some kind of deal coming when they recently adopted new (and very lucrative) severance packages for themselves which would be triggered in the event they were let go following an acquisition.
Paramount Global chairwoman and president of National Amusements Shari Redstone
What this means for Star Trek
Throughout the history of the Star Trek franchise starting back when it was owned by Desilu in the 1960s, it has seen several changes in ownership, corporate structure, and management. It seems plausible if not probable more changes are coming, possibly in 2024. What makes any new changes in control different this time is how tied Star Trek has become to Paramount+, starting with Star Trek: Discovery (which wraps up next year) and including four active projects on the streaming platform (Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, Starfleet Academy, and the Section 31 movie). The service has grown to 63 million subscribers with costs going down but it has yet to turn a profit. However, even if Paramount+ were shut down, any new owners would certainly look to license the popular content. This would certainly include the Star Trek library and likely some or all of the active Star Trek projects as well. This process could be seamless, but we could also see Star Trek content become unavailable for streaming temporarily while new licensing deals were struck, as we saw this year with Prodigy. Depending on the buyer, Paramount+ could also end up being merged with another streamer, like Peacock, Prime Video, or Apple+, which would just move the Star Trek content to the newly merged streaming platform.
The new owners of Paramount could also look to license brand new Star Trek content to other streamers or channels. In fact, moving back to licensing and co-productions is seen as the new trend for streaming companies looking to cut costs, according to a report today in Variety. There is also a trend back towards bundling, including reports that Apple and Paramount are already in talks on a Paramount+/Apple+ bundle, although that would be more about marketing than actually combining apps and content.
In the case of a sale and divestiture of assets, what remains of Paramount could emerge stronger. As noted by a Wells Fargo analyst, “Post very significant asset sales, Paramount New Company could be an attractive growth/content company.” This new Paramount would own the Star Trek library and rights and would be producing and licensing Star Trek content. As noted earlier, Skydance has been working with Paramount Pictures on the recent Star Trek movies and David Ellison (seen below at the Beyond premiere) is credited as an executive producer. Ellison also has a connection to Alex Kurtzman who is currently in charge of Star Trek TV for Paramount. Back in 2011, Kurtzman (and his former partner Roberto Orci) held talks to merge their production company K.O. Paper Products with Skydance. In the end, a new Skydance/Paramount with a corporate focus on content creation could be good news for Star Trek.
For now, it’s too early to even predict what will happen. It’s possible that Redstone, who has proven to be stubborn in the past, isn’t able to find a deal that works for her. In that case, Paramount Global will struggle on as it tries to make its streaming service profitable while shepherding its legacy businesses facing difficult market trends. Regardless, it appears changes are coming for Paramount and there will likely be some ripple effect on Star Trek. So stay tuned to TrekMovie for all the latest.
Change is Good
Change can be good, or it can be Elon Musk buying Twitter…
Or Disney buying Fox. Or AT&T then Discovery buying Warner Bros.
The best thing for Star Trek is for Paramount Global to remain an independent entity, which is a dimming prospect. Next best is being bought out by Apple as they are both deep-pocketed/patient and don’t have competing blockbuster franchises. While any streamer would welcome the views Disco, Picard, and SNW have gotten, Trek would still get lost in the shuffle as an also ran of licensed content on a bigger streamer. It would always be a top priority for Paramount+. Moot point if they run out of money though.
AT&T is still the majority owner with about 71% of WBD, they just gave up the hassle of the day-to-day operation of an entertainment company. Even so, things are arguably worse there than they were before.
I don’t see Apple making a move for Paramount. I could see them acquiring pieces after someone else acquires Paramount but I don’t see them pursuing any entertainment company as a whole that straddles them with debt and a headache to deal with from day one.
Apple doesn’t like making big acquisitions, and Paramount has a lot of businesses Apple wouldn’t want to get into. They deal with the FCC enough as it is without suddenly having to worry about owning broadcast networks. The biggest appeal of Paramount is its film and TV library, IP, studios, and film distribution prowess. The broadcast networks are profitable but losing influence by the day. PlutoTV makes money but may be worth losing if it means being able to part with broadcast. Paramount+ has a lot of subscribers but is still at least a couple years from profitability. That’s absolutely a lot for someone to take on while assuming billions in debt as well.
Buying out National Amusements would give someone control of Paramount without the debt, but would likely perpetuate the current climate of cost cutting and layoffs.
Musk buying Twitter was a great move.
All this makes the future of Trek uncertain. They should scrap plans for Starfleet Academy, IMO.
Blowing 44 Billion on a dumpster fire. Then turning it into a dumpster fire in the middle of a train wreck.
Buying twitter could only be a great move if you’re talking about bowel movements.
You’re not very bright. As dull as a black hole.
Stop insulting black holes.
“Musk buying Twitter was a great move.”
Elon Musk enters the chat.
For anybody except Elon Musk burning 44 billion dollars on a prank and turning one of the world’s primary information hubs into a hive of Nazi scum and villainy is not “a great move”.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahwhahahwhw.
I mean, it wasn’t even a great move for Musk himself, let alone anyone else. Even some of his biggest load-swallowers aren’t loving what he’s done to the place, so it blows my mind that anyone here actually thinks it’s been a good development.
That said, sky dance having some kind of control at Paramount might be good for trek considering how heavily invested in the movies and sci-fi in general as they already are.
If Skydance were to purchase, I’d be pretty comfortable with that.
Amazon, too, as they also seem quite comfortable investing in science fiction.
Apple also, but I would be surprised if they decided on, frankly, such a rinky-dink purchase when they could pay cash for Netflix tomorrow.
Amazon is sitting on an underused Scifi property of their own thanks to buying MGM – STARGATE! They’ve done nothing with the property.
Star Trek could be seen as more popular and known compared to Stargate.
That’s the understatement of the year. Lol
I don’t hear a lot of people asking for more stargate.
Well, I’m certainly asking for more STARGATE.
Me too!
I do, and it’s not even one of my fandoms. I think Stargate could be like Trek: a comfortably mid-level property with a sustainable fanbase. But it’d require investment I don’t think any of the streamers are willing to make on something that’s not going to be a blow-the-doors-off hit.
Amazon spent half a billion dollars on eight episodes of The Rings Of Power and they are doing another season. I think a Stargate show could do even better and cost less.
It would definitely cost less. But it wouldn’t bring in as many eyeballs as the LOTR prequel; I’d be willing to bet even the number of hate watchers for that…endeavor would outnumber the potential Stargate audience to a depressing degree.
Lots of people would like to see more Stargate. I definitely would. Well, as long as it’s good. If it’s more like what we got from Stargate Universe then they should just leave it alone.
Prime Video has terrible apps and interfaces, and the company on the whole is even more unsavory than Apple. They’re interested in sci-fi but barely gave The Expanse enough runway for its last season and cancelled The Peripheral unceremoniously. Shows easily get lost there.
I’ve never had any issues with their interface?
Then again, I do use a a high-end Apple TV device. If you are using some cheap stick or built in TV app connectivity (or even worse, a PC), that is probably your issue.
I use a 4K Apple TV. Amazon stopped using Apple’s UI to control playback, so you can’t scrub through a video quickly. You also have to pause a show to turn on subtitles. I don’t like that.
Apple would be my pick. They’ve already built quite an impressive sci-fi portfolio. Star Trek would fit there nicely.
Not only that, but they would force the production values up and would likely not continue with LDS, since they are a prestige service.
Apple TV+ also shows original cartoons and has plenty of shows and films with production values below P+’s Star Trek shows.
Amazon own MGM/UA and the James Bond catalog. And have a rights partnership with EON over the next movie.
Here’s hoping Ellison doesn’t kill the golden goose for their content: the global film distribution side of the business. Makes sense to divest from TV platforms, but if memory serves, Paramount’s primary revenue comes from distribution.
Your article is missing the fact that David Ellison is friends with Alex Kurtzman, and at one point tried to sign him exclusively to Skydance.
Boy I could have gone all year (or decade) without hearing that.
You didn’t read the article very closely; it’s in there.
Do people understand what a cancerous parasite Bobby Kotick is? We better hope he stays far away from anything related to Trek.
Kotick would be too much of a headache and would likely face resistance so that scenario seems the least likely to pan out.
Bobby Kotick could just take his $400 million and ride off into the sunset.
But has there ever been a person with $400 million who was satisfied with $400 million?
I volunteer to find out!
Shutting down Paramount+ would likely kill off a number of series which are currently exclusive to it. “Strange New Worlds”, “Halo” and pretty much anything from Taylor Sheridan would likely be safe, everything else would be vulnerable. Most original content exclusive to Paramount+ would no longer be necessary, having been produced only to provide original content for the streamer.
Speculation is that Paramount would sell off their linear assets (broadcast and cable) while retaining Paramount Pictures and CBS Studios, essentially mirroring a structure that has proven successful for Sony as the only studio to entirely avoid streaming. This would likely result in Paramount+ with Showtime simply reverting to Showtime after a potential sale, with Paramount licensing Showtime originals back to them (and whatever else Showtime might be interested in).
David Ellison likely has his own vision for moving Paramount Pictures, CBS Studios and its various franchises forward, which likely means moving his people in and pushing Bob Bakish, Brian Robbins and numerous other execs out as well as various production partners, with Skydance filling the void.
I haven’t watched it because I don’t care about it at all but I’ve heard only bad things about that Halo show. And while the Trek shows are the top earners on that plattform I don’t think, they’re acually making money on their own. So really: killing it all might be the best move financially
Halo won’t be winning any awards but it’s a strong performer. As for Star Trek, a top performer as well but, yeah, not actually profitable. They’re still putting more money into originals for Paramount+ than they’re getting out of them. Paramount+ is operating at a loss across the board. The same could be said about Disney+ but Disney eventually recoups their losses on the back end with a pile of IP to profit from.
Expecting anything good based on a videogame. What is the most successful that animated Mario thing. Video game movies and shows don’t work.
The Last Of Us was pretty good and got a lot of awards nominations.
I could imagine them selling Lower Decks to Netflix if Prodigy does particularly well there.
The third season of Strange New Worlds was already set back by the strikes; I hope the possible sale of Paramount doesn’t delay it further!
If there is no more Paramount+ before they finish it, then it may delay it. Star Trek is going to show up somewhere – the CBS broadcast network? Apple+? – so SNW would likely have a home pretty quickly.
Well, there’s one excuse on why they haven’t greenlit Legacy.
That… and the fact that there’s no indication it was ever on the table to begin with, other than in fans’ minds.
Which was also true of SNW until it wasn’t.
Matalas clearly set up the show at the end of Picard.
We’re really gonna do this every time, huh?
Paramount+ as a whole is in a holding pattern and that’s a generous assessment. They haven’t announced anything new for Paramount+ in quite some time and everything slated had been previously announced with no indication of what happens beyond 2024.
A Legacy series seems the most likely Star Trek candidate to produce with the intention of licensing it elsewhere. As with Season 3 of Picard, viewers would be able to jump in with little knowledge of the current state of Star Trek and with minimal exposition or explanation.
The main one being that Kurtzman was apparently jealous of Matalas success an popularity in the star Trek fandom.
Where did you hear this?
Any decisions regarding what’s next for Star Trek is out of Kurtzman’s hands so it ultimately doesn’t matter.
This reads like the dozens of “inside sources say Kurtzman is getting fired next week” comments. Anything that sounds tailor made to make parts of the Trek fandom happy should be seen as fake first and foremost tbh
“Kurtzman was apparently jealous of Matalas”
Well, that doesn’t sound totally made up at all. /s
Getting sick of all this.
Paramount+ stated that it was the home of all Star Trek But that is not the case. Frustrating. Hopefully all Star Trek remains on Paramount+.
Paramount+ had a couple Trek films listed in their “Watch before they’re gone” list last week. I saw First Contact listed.
This is why I still purchase physical media for franchises I love. The recent 4k releases for the films (I don’t have a 4K TV or player) also include newly upgraded Blu Rays, which are awesome, and I have the 4K discs when I’m finally able to make that upgrade.
Agreed
Yup, I own all of my favorite Trek on physical media, and have for years. It’s the only way to go, imo.
The point of the article is that there may not be a Paramount+ in the near future.
In other words … billionaires and multi-millionaires continuing to look for ways to screw over creatives, acting like there’s some “financial crisis” in the streaming world when CEOs and shareholders continue to rake in record profits.
Bingo
Nope
As someone who owns Disney stock who’s lost 40% on it in the last year, and who also looks at Paramount stock which is 1/4 of what it was 2 years ago, where are all these shareholders making all this money that you’re talking about?
This is the problem with some fans who just like to bitch about studio companies. They don’t even bother to look at the stock price history. They assume shareholders are basking in profits — well I got you news for you, most of us are losing money..
Ordinary investors are losing money on these two stocks, sure. But the big players tend to find ways to make money no matter what (e.g. hedge funds).
I think he’s referring to major shareholders. For your average shareholder it’s an investment that will hopefully payoff down the road. For major shareholders it’s about leverage and the potential for huge payouts.
Having worked for several major media companies, our fortunes were always tied to the actions of those at the top. Even when they failed, they walked away with piles of cash and lucrative stock options while the rest of us looked at bonuses which were going to take a hit or the possibility of layoffs.
I don’t disagree with that in terms of Disney, in fact I am thinking about doubling down on their stock right now. Paramount though — no way would I ever put my money there with the dysfunction of the Redstone’s and all the other bad moves.
CEOs yes, shareholders not really.
What if Star Trek: Prodigy is the only show to survive the chaos to come due to moving to Netflix early.
I’d be okay with it. Prodigy is great Trek.
Huh? There is zero news that Netflix is going to fund any new seasons of prodigy
Its been reported time and again that Netflix has the license to order more seasons of Prodigy, and if the show does well there they likely will.
Netflix did the same for numerous other shows like Longmire – it’s cheaper for them to buy a show that already exists and has a fanbase they can grow.
Of course they might given they have the license. I don’t see why more people would suddenly watch it there versus Nick and P+, but you can hope.
It’s like perhaps they also have the license for bovine aviation, and so we could then conclude that maybe pigs will fly next year? :-)
You don’t see why more people would watch a Star Trek show on a streaming network that has four times the amount of viewership, a far larger global reach, underserved Star Trek fandom, and a preexisting audience for action kids animation that Paramount+ does not?
bovine = cows, porcine = pigs
Nothing moved to Netflix “early” in any sense like “Star Trek is moving to Netflix.”
CBS cut the show, but S2 was almost complete, so they decided to finish production and allowed it to go looking for buyers.
That’s not the same thing.
To be frank, Star Trek and Paramount’s other IPs are probably worth more sold off piecemeal than as part of “Paramount Global.”
Well said.
🤞 for season 3!
Prodigy is great Star Trek though! That and LDS are my favorite NuTrek shows!
Agreed! I’m more hyped about season two of Prodigy on Netflix than the final season of Discovery on Paramount+, to be honest.
The sooner we got we get the last Redstone out the door the better. That whole family has been like a cancer to the studio — they’re 20th century thinking dinosaurs
She’s the most sensible of the lot and helped get Les Moonves canned.
She the one that manage to merge star trek back together again. Honestly surprise plans to sell after all the hard work she done over last 5 years or so.
Getting it back together greatly increases its value if you want to sell it.
Business reporting as it pertains to Star Trek is Anthony P’s strong suit. He is meticulous in his reports and analysis.
Agree 100%
I’d be happy to see it over at apple. They have a great SciFi Portfolio already and let’s not forget, that they wanted the Stargate rights back in 2007.
Maybe we’d finally get some good Trek again that way.
I’d hate to see any Star Trek go to Apple. Last year I got a free iPad and got Apple TV+ free for three months and then started paying for it because I got into Foundation and Shrinking. I don’t like that I’m giving money to Apple. I definitely don’t want to start any new shows from Apple. I’m probably going to cancel it and just get it again later for one month to binge the next seasons of Foundation and Shrinking until they are done and then drop the service completely.
Sell it to whoever can actually afford to make the Legacy show! 😎👍
Maybe they sell it to Apple and we’ll get a $250 million 3 hour Star Trek movie directed by Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio plays Captain Kirk.
Hey, you never know?
I’d watch that.
Of course they’re not interested in the CBS network, cable, or streaming! Cable and OTA television are deader than dead. And let’s be real here – Paramount+ is a failed streaming service. It’s so sad that Star Trek had to be put on it, because from the very start CBSAA was a truly awful app. Like never mind the lack of content – it’s a terrible app, period. It has a lousy UI experience. Even now as P+, it still is so lacking in so many ways that other streamers ironed out literally a decade ago. So no one will miss P+, no one will miss its lousy content (honestly I’m aghast not only at the “Star Trek” they’ve produced for it but also so many other reboots, remakes, and half-baked productions to simply fill out its library), and it will be a miracle if anyone even remembers it 5 years from now. We’ll all just go, “Oh yeah, wasn’t there a time when Paramount had an app? That was awful.” Sigh. I feel bad Star Trek is saddled to such a loser. If it was on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, literally any other app, its reach would be so much more massive. The end of P+ can’t come soon enough, IMO.
An interesting point. Perhaps the existence of the streaming service did indeed incentivize the “throw a lot of mud on the wall and see what stick” approach they’ve taken with NuTrek.
I’d so much rather they do one high-quality series and get it right.
The only issue I’ve had with Paramount+ on FireTV and GoogleTV in the last year or so was that the last few new Frasier episodes were just a black screen with audio until I rebooted the device a time or two. I’ve had more trouble with Max in the last year than with Paramount+.
Jeez, what a load of BS. Just because you wish it to be true doesn’t make it so. LOL
Paramount+ sounds like it may be the UPN of streaming sites. To be honest that’s what I considered All Access lol. Now that was a horrible and crappy service all around. It was killed off quickly for P+ which I do think is a huge improvement.
But I obviously agree Star Trek would at least get a lot more attention on bigger and more popular sites like Netflix and Amazon. People actually have those. To this day I don’t know anyone who even has P+ and it seems to have a bad reputation online. I doubt most people even know these new Trek shows exist if they don’t have it.
Those of us who have maintained Paramount Plus in all it’s various forms and incarnations has been a dead man walking for years now feel more than a bit vindicated.
Not if Kurtzman gains more influence over Star Trek.
Huh??? He already runs all the streaming shows! And a new movie seems to eternally be on the back burner. So what more influence could he have?
Is he related to Harlan Ellison?
Anyway, I have a bad feeling about this.
After thinking about it, I am ok if all current Star Trek productions would wrap up their current seasons and then end. I think it would be a good time to let Star Trek lie dormant for a few years and let a new team take it over after that.
As Kirk said “too much of anything, even love, is not a good thing.” I think there is too much Trek now. Personally, I got what I wanted with Picard Season 3 and the SNW musical. My heart is full with those two productions so I don’t need anymore Star Trek from the current team. Let the current era end.
Honestly, I could get behind this. We need some new drivers at the wheel.
Personally really enjoying Strange New Worlds so I don’t really want it to end yet.
I would say in terms of the individual shows it’s hardly begun, given that the norm used to be 7 seasons with 20+ episodes. I would have been inclined to do 5-7 years of one, then wait a bit, then start something else rather than this saturation though. But I think Paramount see it as the closest they have to Star Wars or the MCU and try to copy the TV model of those franchises.
Chances are high that Skydance would invest in prober preservation work. I have deep concerns regarding the preservation of the “classical” Star Trek shows, including TOS, TNG, and the other “classic” shows from this franchise. As a devoted fan of Star Trek, especially TNG, which holds a special place in my heart, I understand from current information that there are no plans to release any of the “classic” Star Trek shows in a 4K format. While this of course is disappointing for many (including myself), my primary concern is whether these iconic shows will at least be preserved in 4K resolution. My worries stem from the fact that these shows were originally filmed on 35mm film, which, to my knowledge, is roughly the equivalent of 4K resolution. However, it appears that they have only been scanned and preserved in 1080p HD quality. This resolution, while high definition, does not fully utilize the potential quality that the original 35mm film can offer. Preserving these shows in 4K would not only honor the legacy of the legendary Gene Roddenberry, but also ensure that they are maintained in the highest possible quality for future generations. This is crucial for historical preservation, as well as for providing the best viewing experience for new and existing fans. The film material could potentially suffer from various forms of deterioration such as aging, so to say as we speak the film stock is bit by bit losing quality, environmental damage from earthquakes or fire, going missing, you name it.. Even tv shows such as “Columbo” or “Babylon 5” were scanned in 4K resolution, with at least “Babylon 5” certainly having a much lower historical value compared to Star Trek. I’m aware that financial factors might be a significant reason preventing this preservation from mhappening. However, I firmly believe that there is a possibility of finding sponsors or engaging in a crowdfunding initiative to support this essential preservation work. The fan base is large, dedicated, and I’m confident that many, like myself, would be willing to contribute to safeguarding the legacy of these beloved shows.
I reckon it’s where people like Jeff Bezos, who’s a fan of star trek, could step in. If they really cared enough. Make it best archival material possible. I mean goodness, it could then all by on Prime.
How about Deep Space Nine and Voyager in 2k. Before making the pitch for TOS in 4K. Not gonna happen because TNG didn’t make back what it cost in blu-ray disc sales. Would cost millions of dollars.
The information (or more accurately said -rumor-, since there never has been any official or unofficial verification if this information is even accurate) that TNG-Remastered didn’t made enough money now is several years old. In the meantime, it was even re-re-released in 2017 with a full edition collection and recently in the Picard Legacy Collection. Furthermore, TNG was/is highly popular on streamers over the past years. Also, if the sale numbers were that low back in the day, why didn’t CBS/Paramount stoped the heavily expansive production process of the remastering after season 1, 2, or at least season 3 were released, where it must have been pretty clear how sales were going, since the seasons were released with a gap of several month..
My understanding is that DS9, VOY and possibly some of ENT were recorded on video rather than filmed so it’s not a case of re-scanning, it would be a case of artificial upscaling techniques.
Why would the chances be high? Honestly asking – does Skydance have a historic interest in this? They’d be on a tear to divest parts of Paramount with their own creditors breathing down their necks to get results, so I’m not clear where/when a drive to exploit legacy product down the line in this manner would happen.
So if Streaming is losing money, cable and OTA are losing viewers, and the distributors don’t want a one-and-done sale of physical media, where will the content be seen?
Do these people even think about how any of this works?
The streamers who waited it out long enough to turn a profit (Netflix, Hulu) or are backed by a a bigger company with an ulterior motive (Amazon, Apple) will not be going anywhere. Everyone else is just trying to an equilibrium where they stop hemorrhaging money. Paramount+ loses less money each year but the parent company doesn’t have a ton of cash to wait it out, and it’s especially vulnerable to shifts in ad revenue, the downturn of broadcast and box office turmoil.
Crazy how many changes and failed projects Star Trek has survived by now. Apple TV+ would be the perfect home for it. One can hope …
“As noted earlier, Skydance has been working with Paramount Pictures on the recent Star Trek movies”
Recent? Did I miss a movie in the past three-quarters of a decade?
Since Beyond will be eight years old in 2024, it’s certainly hard to think of the Kelvin films as “recent.” I would certainly enjoy a final film with this cast, but at this point it would certainly be a “reunion.”
I just can’t even get excited at the prospect (no disrespect intended to those who do) and if I can’t I fear that’s also a decent chunk of the rest of the core fan base. So I’m not sure ST4 is a good business proposition, but obviously the proper data might disagree with me. I’ll see it if it happens but in terms of TV I know roughly when all the upcoming TV is out off the top of my head.
Star Trek 4 happening is that even real? I mean the 4th Kelvin not the one with the whales. I won’t believe it until i see Pine on set in front of a camera in costume as Kirk.
Another nail in the coffin for a Star Trek movie – no studio is going to invest a couple of hundreds of millions of dollars while negotiations are ongoing
The first nail was already hammered in when Beyond bombed. They included five more since after five cancelled projects. 😂
They know most people moved on from these movies long ago and you have to be insane to spend more than $100 million dollars on a Star Trek movie today when real blockbuster IPs are failing left and right. And I doubt Paramount can even have that kind of money for Star Trek anyway.
I found it cathartic to have Indiana Jones back, obviously a lot of people didn’t even see the movie. Loved the new MI movie as well. Transformers Rise of the Beasts i found a chore, not recommended i thought it was worse than The Last Knight.
Right now it seems as if audiences are kind of done with these franchises. No way Paramount (or whoever ends up owning it) will put any money into a (let’s face it) second tier franchise like ST.
OK. Looks like Warner Bros Discovery is looking at merging with Paramount Global, per Deadline:
Merger Meeting?: WBD’s David Zaslav & Paramount Global’s Bob Bakish Sit Down To Talk Possible Deal, “Preliminary” Says Source