NEW STAR TREK FALLS FAR SHORT OF FORECASTS

There had been virtually unanimous predictions that Star Trek Into Darkness would debut with the biggest opening ever for the Paramount franchise — at least $80 million for the three-day weekend and $100 million for the four-day holiday. It didn’t happen. Paramount now expects the movie to earn $70.5 million for the weekend and $84 […]

PARAMOUNT MOVIES COMING TO CHINA TV

China’s BesTV New Media, which delivers premium content to subscribers’ television sets via an Internet-connected settop box, has signed a deal with Paramount for the rights to some of its classic films “as well as new releases.” In an announcement today (Thursday), the company said that the first films to be carried on its IPRV […]

MASSIVE PARAMOUNT THEME PARK TO OPEN IN U.K.

Britain’s success in pulling off the Summer Olympics virtually without a hitch is apparently paying off in an unexpected way: a $3.2 billion investment in an 872-acre Paramount Pictures theme park in the Thames Estuary, a 20-minute train ride away from London. Reports on Monday said that the project is being being led by a […]

AS DVD SALES SINK, SO DO ACTORS’ SALARIES

If movie stars are no longer able to command fees of tens of millions of dollars from studios, they can blame the slump in DVD and Blu-ray Disc sales, Viacom chief Philippe Dauman indicated on Wednesday. Speaking at an investors conference in New York, Dauman said that while revenue from digital platforms has helped to […]

YOU, TOO, CAN BE SEEN IN TITANIC

Talk about putting the audience into the picture! Paramount Home Media on Wednesday launched a new promotion in connection with the September 10th release of the Blu-ray 2D and 3D versions of Titanic that will allow fans to upload via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/TitanicMovie) an image of themselves that will be inserted into one of the three […]

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION JUMPS FROM PARAMOUNT TO FOX

DreamWorks Animation has a new distributor: 20th Century Fox. The deal, which in effect unites Jeffrey Katzenberg’s studio with Fox’s Blue Skies division — its latest release, Ice Age: Continental Drift, has thus far earned $797.4 million worldwide — makes Fox an animation powerhouse. In a statement, Katzenberg said that his studio will benefit in […]

DOWNTURNS AT CABLE, FILM HIT VIACOM

Sumner Redstone, the chairman of CBS and Viacom, got good news and bad about his two media companies on Thursday. On the one hand, CBS reported record profits in the last quarter; on the other hand, Viacom’s profits sank. The blow to Redstone’s older and larger media conglomerate might have been less troubling had its […]

MADAGASCAR 3 SHIFTING AD FUNDS TO DIGITAL

If the marketing plan for Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted is any indication, Hollywood’s studios may be moving past the traditional strategy of devoting most of their advertising budgets to Thursday-night television commercials and weekend newspaper ads. “We are migrating more and more of our budget to online and digital,” Anne Globe, chief marketing officer […]

REPORT: MARVEL AND PARAMOUNT EXECS FEUDING AGAIN

Marvel executives are reportedly angry over published reports that Paramount stands to pocket at least $115 million in fees for The Avengers and Iron Man 3 without having to shell out a dime in costs, the New York Post reported today (Wednesday), citing unnamed sources. According to those sources, Paramount might have held on to […]

VIACOM REPORTS KILLER QUARTER

Far exceeding analysts’ expectations, earnings at Viacom, whose assets include Paramount Studios, MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, and Comedy Central, rose 56 percent in its second quarter to $585 million versus $376 million during the comparable period a year ago. The solid results came despite the lackluster performance of most of its Paramount releases and ratings softness […]

Next Page »