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Tag: Paramount

  • Walmart and Paramount Reach Agreement for Streaming Bundle

    Walmart and Paramount Reach Agreement for Streaming Bundle

    Walmart has reached an agreement to bundle Paramount+ as part of its Walmart+ membership that aims to compete with Amazon Prime.

    News broke last week that Walmart was in talks with various streaming platforms to bundle one or more with its Walmart+ membership. The company is positioning Walmart+ as a competitor to Amazon Prime, even launching Walmart+ Weekend.

    It appears the retailer has reached an agreement with Paramount to bundle its streaming service, according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal will be a 12-month exclusive, and a two-year deal overall, and builds on the long-standing relationship the two companies have had, with Walmart selling Paramount’s entertainment products.

    The deal will provide the ad-supported Paramount+ service to Walmart+ members and should be available to Walmart’s customers in September.

    The deal should also be a major boon to Paramount+, which had 43 million subscribers as of last quarter. With Walmart+ believed to have more than 16 million subscribers, the deal could bring a significant number of new subscribers to the streaming platform.

  • Walmart Explores Streaming Deals With Top Platforms

    Walmart Explores Streaming Deals With Top Platforms

    Walmart is reportedly exploring deals with top streaming platforms with a view to adding them to its Walmart+ bundle.

    Walmart has been working to take on Amazon, most recently launching Walmart+ Weekend to rival Amazon Prime. The company appears to be trying to combat Amazon Prime Video by partnering with streaming services, according to The New York Times.

    The Times’ sources say Walmart has spoken with execs from Comcast, Disney, and Paramount. At this time, there is no indication if a deal will be reached, and none of the companies involved would provide a comment.

    If Walmart is able to strike a deal, it will give the retailer a major advantage in its battle with Amazon. As the Times points out, companies across industries are increasingly looking to bundle streaming services in an effort to be more appealing to customers. T-Mobile and Verizon are two such companies, striking deals with streaming platforms to help build customer loyalty and reduce churn.

    A Walmart+ membership currently costs $12.95 per month. Should the retailer succeed in striking one or more deals, it will likely have to raise the price of its membership bundle unless it plans on maintaining the same price as a loss leader.

  • ViacomCBS Seeks Streaming Supremacy With ‘Paramount+’

    ViacomCBS Seeks Streaming Supremacy With ‘Paramount+’

    ViacomCBS is seeking streaming supremacy by leveraging both Paramount’s content and the historic Paramount brand. The company says they are rebranding CBS All Access as Paramount+ as a result of the merger of CBS and Viacom last year. The new supersized premium streaming service will include all of the original CBS content plus the huge catalog of movies and TV shows previously owned by Paramount.

    Paramount+ will also include popular new hits such as Yellowstone, Lioness, and The Offer. New pricing has not been announced but it is likely to be significantly higher than the $5.99 a month with ads or $9.99 a month without ads that CBS All Access costs.

    “Paramount is an iconic and storied brand beloved by consumers all over the world, and it is synonymous with quality, integrity and world-class storytelling,” said Bob Bakish, President and CEO, ViacomCBS. “With Paramount+, we’re excited to establish one global streaming brand in the broad-pay segment that will draw on the sheer breadth and depth of the ViacomCBS portfolio to offer an extraordinary collection of content for everyone to enjoy.”

    The company says that since the transformation of CBS All Access began in late July, the service has experienced significant growth. With the addition of content from Paramount such as UEFA, Big Brother, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and the more than 3,500 episodes from across ViacomCBS’ brands, the service broke a new record for total monthly streams in August. It experienced one of its best months ever in terms of new subscriber sign-ups. In addition, the average age of new subscribers in August was measurably younger than the service’s overall average subscriber age, due in large part to the addition of UEFA and the newly added content from various ViacomCBS brands.

    Leading up to the early 2021 rebrand to Paramount+, CBS All Access will expand its content offering to more than 30,000 episodes and movies and continue to develop additional original series across brands including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and more. The company is positioning Paramount+ as a major competitor in the streaming world and intends to compete effectively for subscribers with Netflix, Amazon, Disney+, and all of the other services.

    “The response from consumers in just the early weeks of the service’s expansion already illustrates the tremendous opportunity ahead of us in bringing these phenomenal ViacomCBS brands together in one premium streaming home under the new Paramount+ name,” said Marc DeBevoise, Chief Digital Officer, ViacomCBS and President & Chief Executive Officer, ViacomCBS Digital. “With the addition of even more content from across the portfolio as well as the new exclusive originals we are announcing today, we look forward to the early 2021 rebrand and bringing existing and new subscribers more of the compelling, genre-spanning live sports, breaking news and mountain of entertainment ViacomCBS has to offer.”

  • ‘Team America: World Police’ Is Also Getting Yanked from Theaters

    According to several theaters which had planned to screen the 2004 comedy Team America: World Police in lieu of the film The Interview, Paramount has put the kibosh on the whole thing.

    Texas regional theater group Alamo Drafthouse made headlines earlier when they announced a screening of the Trey Parker/Matt Stone film this Christmas to replace a screening of the new Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy The Interview.

    As you probably know, Sony Pictures pulled the theatrical release of The Interview following vague, terroristic threats were made on any and all theaters showing the film. The group behind the threats were also responsible for the embarrassing hack that compromised thousand of Sony’s documents. It’s still unknown if North Korea has any part in this.

    The group is reportedly upset over the film’s content, which depicts the assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. Team America also pokes fun at North Korea and its leader – only it’s Kim Jong-il.

    Here’s Alamo Drafthouse, alongside various other theaters, announcing the cancellations over Twitter. A few blame Paramount specifically.

    America? F-ck yeah?

    Image via YouTube

  • Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series Of Unfortunate Events’ Is Becoming A Netflix Original Series

    Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series Of Unfortunate Events’ Is Becoming A Netflix Original Series

    Netflix is reportedly adapting Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events for an original series.

    In case you’re unfamiliar with the title, it’s a series of thirteen children’s novels written by Daniel Handler, who uses the pen name Lemony Snicket. It was turned into a movie starring Jim Carrey, Meryl Streep, and Jude Law, which was released in 2004.

    Netflix has acquired the rights to the series, and is getting Paramount (which produced the film) to co-produce it. The Wrap shares a quote from Netflix VP of Original Content Cindy Holland:

    On the search for fantastic material that appeals to both parents and kids, the first stop for generations of readers is A Series of Unfortunate Events. We are proud to start work on a series for a global audience that already loves the books. The world created by Lemony Snicket is unique, darkly funny, and relatable. We can’t wait to bring it to life for Netflix members.

    The Hollywood Reporter shares one from Snicket:

    “I can’t believe it,” Snicket said from an undisclosed location. “After years of providing top-quality entertainment on demand, Netflix is risking its reputation and its success by associating itself with my dismaying and upsetting books.”

    Netflix has always been good about basing content on built-in audiences. It’s basically the strategy the company has used since House of Cards. It’s also why its upcoming Marvel series additions are a no-brainer.

    Image via YouTube

  • Star Trek 2016 Screenplay Draft Complete

    Star Trek 2016 Screenplay Draft Complete

    Star Trek: Into Darkness may have been the biggest disappointment for trekkies since Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, but the latest Star Trek movie topped the box office and proved that J.J. Abrams’ action-movie vision of Trek does hold some appeal for a wider movie audience. With these factors in mind, fans of the franchise are both bracing themselves for another disaster and clinging to the hope that Paramount hasn’t fully abandoned what made Star Trek popular in the first place.

    Luckily for Star Trek fans, the next movie will have the benefit of a new director that might be able to capture the spirit of the franchise. It was recently announced that Abrams will be stepping aside to focus on the new Star Wars movies, allowing Roberto Orci to take control of Trek. Orci was a co-writer of the two recent Star Trek reboot movies and has written for other movies such as Mission: Impossible III and Transformers.

    Orci recently stirred a bit more hype for the 13th Star Trek movie by confirming that his first draft for the next movie is already complete. Earlier this month Orci took to the comments section of a TrekMovie.com article about himself to deflect criticism that he may not be taking Trek seriously. In one comment Orci wrote that “p & m & I wrote,’fade out’ yesterday on first draft. things are moving,” referring to his co-writers, John D. Payne and Patrick McKay.

    Orci later confirmed this comment with TrekMovie, stating that the first draft for the third Star Trek reboot movie is now complete. He also stated that shooting on the movie is expected to start in spring 2015. This news means that the next Star Trek movie is on-schedule to hit the 2016 release date that Paramout has pinned to the project.

    Orci has also recently reassured fans that the next movie will be closer to the original series and set in deep space. For Trek fans this might offer hope, though the pain of Into Darkness is likely to keep most of them skeptical.

    Image via Paramount/Facebook

  • Terminator Reboot Coming in Summer 2015

    Though 2009’s Terminator Salvation was a welcome addition to the Terminator movie franchise after the confused and poorly received Terminator 3, it still didn’t reinvigorate the Terminator story for general audiences. Now, movie makers are wiping the slate clean with a reboot of the entire sci-fi world of Terminator.

    Paramount Pictures officially announced this week that a Terminator reboot will be released two years from now, on June 26, 2015. The movie is the first of a planned trilogy, and screenwriters Laeta Kalorgridis and Patrick Lussier are currently attached to the project. Kalorgridis is best known for writing the screenplay for Shutter Island and as the executive producer for Avatar. Lussier was the writer/director of the 2011 Nicholas Cage movie Drive Angry.

    Paramount is producing Terminator in conjunction with Annapurna Pictures and Skydance Productions. Megan Ellison, a producer on movies such as Zero Dark Thirty and True Grit, is also attached to the project. Conspicuously missing from Paramount’s announcement is whether Arnold Schwarzenegger – the original Terminator – will be making an appearance in the reboot. Schwarzenegger is the only actor to have appeared in every Terminator movie so far.

  • Bing To Add Klingon Language To Translator To Market ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

    Bing To Add Klingon Language To Translator To Market ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’

    Update: Bing has now made the official announcement.

    Bing is reportedly adding the Klingon language to Bing Translator as part of a marketing deal between Microsoft and Paramount, as the studio prepares to release Star Trek Into Darkness.

    While we’ve been unable to bring up the language in Bing Translator so far, The LA Times (via Engadget) reports that it is coming today:

    The Bing service will translate text written in any one of 41 supported languages — including English, French, Hebrew and Urdu — into Klingon. Fear not, native Klingon speakers: words or phrases written in that language can be translated into the more than three dozen available tongues.

    According to the report, Microsoft engineer helped develop the feature, has he apparently speaks Klingon. The LA Times shares a quote from Bing’s Craig Beilinson: “We have people who understand the deep science of linguistics and we also have people who are passionate about the ‘Star Trek’ franchise. This was a labor of love from a lot of different avenues.”

    This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the Klingon Language utilized by a major search engine. You can still see the Google Klingon homepage here.

    Star Trek Into Darkness releases in the U.S. on May 17th.

    Image: StarTrek.com

  • Yahoo And Paramount Bring Back “Burning Love” For Two More Seasons

    Yahoo and Paramount announced the renewal of its comedy series Burning Love, which debuted in June on Yahoo Screen. There will be at least two more seasons, beginning next year.

    “The star-studded first season of Burning Love, produced by Ben Stiller (among others), premiered to critical acclaim and is coming back with another exciting season that will feature Ken Marino, June Diane Raphael and Natasha Leggero as well as new characters in their quest to find true love,” a spokesperson for Yahoo tells WebProNews. “The series has been renewed for two more seasons to give comedy fans more of the content they want.”

    “At Yahoo!, we program based on insights about what our users want to watch,” said Erin McPherson, VP and Head of Video at Yahoo!. “We knew we found a hit with Burning Love given the caliber of the talent and the subject matter—and it was proven shortly after the launch with all the binge viewing that took place. We’re excited to offer two more seasons of it to our audience.”

    “The success of Burning Love is a testament to the unparalleled creative team that delivered a truly hilarious series and set a new bar for original digital entertainment,” said Amy Powell, President of Insurge Pictures and EVP of Interactive Theatrical Marketing for Paramount Pictures. “Yahoo! did a tremendous job of getting the series in front of their audience, and we are thrilled to be working with them to bring the next two seasons to fans.”

    Ben Stiller says, “We are very excited to keep Burning Love on the fire — get ready for it to get hotter and hotter till it scalds your comedy taste buds off.”

    The next two installments will be written by Erica Oyama (Childrens’ Hospital) and directed by Ken Marino.

  • MGM: 600 Titles Will be Available for Rent on Google Play and YouTube

    YouTube announced on Sunday that it is partnering with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and will add more than 600 titles for rent to YouTube and Google Play users in the U.S. and Canada.

    Paramount also joined a week ago and will be contributing approximately 500 titles.

    According to emarketer.com by 2014, 77% of US Internet users will be watching online video content on a monthly basis. Nielsen Wire also reports that watching movies online is growing increasingly popular: “Online video usage in the U.S. is up considerably from the same time last year as time spent viewing video on PC/Mac/laptops from home and work locations increased by 45%.”

    The turn in trend might also be the result of increased gas prices. With gas at over four dollars a gallon it is no wonder that people are refraining from driving to their local movie store. Other downsides of renting from a physical store include poor customer service, poorly organized sections that waste the consumer’s time, and the chance that the particular movie one desires to view is out of copies. What a potential waste of money and time.

    Thanks to the new partnership you’ll be able to watch movies like West Side Story, The Terminator, and Rocky with the touch of a button.

  • YouTube Ordered to Answer to Viacom Suit

    Google-owned YouTube has been newly ordered to defend a lawsuit filed by Viacom Inc. over copyright violations. Viacom has alleged that YouTube had knowingly hosted some of their content without authorization, including clips from “the Colbert Report.”

    Here is the new trailer for the Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures’ G.I. Joe: Retaliation, “legally” on YouTube:

    A lower court had initially sided with YouTube on the matter, but the U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan reversed the ruling today, ordering Google to defend the case. In a 39-page decision, a two-judge panel wrote, “A reasonable jury could find that YouTube had actual knowledge or awareness of specific infringing activity on its website.”

    Viacom first sued YouTube in 2007, seeking $1 billion in damages, alleging that the website’s users were posting thousands of Viacom’s clips, included those from “The Daily Show,” “South Park,” and from various movies from its Paramount Pictures branch. In 2010, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton found YouTube to be protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, because it removed the content from its site, after Viacom complained. Viacom countered, claiming that YouTube was aware of the copyright infringement when it displayed the videos in the first place.

    The case is Viacom International v. YouTube, 10-03270, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Manhattan). The lower- court case is Viacom v. YouTube, 07-2103, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

    It would seem that Viacom still doesn’t understand or care about the sheer amount of video content that’s uploaded to YouTube daily – Last year it was reported that 2 days worth of video is uploaded to Youtube’s servers every minute. How would it be possible to keep up with millions of users just constantly posting whatever? And surely Viacom has no problem with the site “officially” posting it’s marketing content.

  • Google Gets Paramount Movies On YouTube, Google Play

    Google is partnering with Paramount Pictures to add Paramount movie rentals to YouTube and Google Play. A Googler laid out the following highlights in an email to WebProNews:

    • Nearly 500 titles available for rent including new blockbusters like Captain America, Hugo, and The Adventures of Tin Tin together with classics like Coming to America and the Godfather
    • These Paramount Titles will be available to users in the US and Canada on Google Play and YouTube (www.youtube.com/movies)
    • In 2011 we focused on signing deals with the indie and major studios and scaling our rental service globally:

      – We now have movies from 5 of the 6 major studios (Paramount, Sony Pictures, Universal, Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers) and over ten indie studios: Lionsgate Films, Magnolia, Starz, Weinstein, etc.)

      – In the last 10 months we’ve launched rentals in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and (last week) France

    • Rentals will be priced at $3.99 for new releases; most older movies are $2.99. Almost all titles will be available for 48 hours once you begin watching. New releases HD version will be $4.99. Older releases HD version will be $3.99.

    Malik Ducard, Director of Content Partnerships for YouTube, says, “Paramount Pictures is one of the biggest movies studios on the planet. We’re thrilled to bring nearly 500 of their films to movie fans in the US and Canada on YouTube and Google Play.”

    This is a huge deal for Google as it tries to make a bigger impact on the movie rental scene. The competition in this space is getting more interesting by the day. Content selection is obviously one of the main factors that consumers take into consideration, and original content is ultimately going to be the determining factor for many, when it comes to using a service like YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, etc. That’s why they’re all going the original content route. There just may be room for all to co-exist into the future. Don’t forget, Redbox has a streaming offering in the works.

    Image from “Coming To America”

  • Did Paramount Take a Shot at Netflix’s Streaming Service?

    Did Paramount Take a Shot at Netflix’s Streaming Service?

    As many Netflix users are already well aware of, the company has something of an issue with new movies released to the home consumer. In fact, one of the biggest complaints about the Netflix streaming service is the abject lack of this new material, something Netflix doesn’t consider an issue, regardless of what their customers say.

    Granted, it’s easy to understand why Netflix would try to spin their services in a positive, but the fact remains, it comes off like they don’t care about their members. Perhaps those who are minding the Netflix corporate offices would be better served laying the blame at the feet of the companies that deserve instead of responding to the issue with mere lip service reactions. The companies in question who deserve the blame for this lack of new movie releases (for the home, or course) are the movie studios themselves.

    It’s really not Netflix’s fault Warner Brothers would rather a flaying Blockbuster and On Demand services get their new releases first, although, perhaps Netflix could’ve pushed back a little stronger.

    As with most things having to do with access in regards to entertainment content, it comes down to money.

    With that in mind, is Paramount’s latest marketing move for the home release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon a shot at Netflix or the entire middle man industry that makes up home movie distribution? The reason for query has to do with the fact that, if you are so inclined, you can rent the third installment in the Transformers series directly from Paramount via their video on demand service.

    The rental, which costs $4.99 for high-def and $3.99 for standard, can only be seen — this soon — at Paramount’s VOD site. Previously, Paramount partnered with Facebook to show Jackass, but apparently, the buzz fizzled on that arrangement, and so, Paramount circumvented every middle man out there and decided to offer the stream on their own property.

    Is this strategy a direct shot at Netflix? Is this the wave of the future in regards to home movie rentals/purchases? If so, why did Paramount (and others) wait so long to offer their own content, nixing out companies like Amazon and, of course, Netflix? Or does removing potential revenue streams — just HBO did with Netflix — about as misguided of business decision as one can make?

    Or is this a case of these studios asking too much for their prime content, and so, services like Netflix and others simply decline the opportunity to participate? After reading about the Starz/Netflix break up, which, again, was all about money, Netflix not wanting to be held hostage by these distribution companies makes sense.

    Unfortunately, however, such territorial pissings only hurt the consumer.

    All things considered, it’s honestly surprising studios like Paramount haven’t said “screw the middle man” much sooner than they have, especially now that technology clearly supports the streaming of content, even content as large as high definition movies. Is Dark of the Moon the first step in an inevitable trend or is this simply a marketing ploy on Paramount’s behalf?

    Let us know what you think.

  • YouTube Hires Paramount EVP/GM

    YouTube Hires Paramount EVP/GM

    Less than a month ago, a rumor indicated that YouTube would begin paying celebrities big money in order to create custom content.  Now, a piece of the organization’s Hollywood-related plans seems to be falling into place, as YouTube’s hired a key Paramount Pictures exec.

    At Paramount, Alex Carloss held the title “EVP & GM, WW Distribution.”  At YouTube, he’ll be a member of the content acquisition team, according to Peter Kafka, who broke the story.

    Carloss’s impressive employment history should come in handy there.  Over the years, he’s worked at Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Warner Home Video, Electronic Arts, Real Networks, and Metro Goldwyn Mayer, presumably making contacts all the way.

    That could provide YouTube with a good “in” or two with respect to making deals.

    Of course, at the same time, people at Google and YouTube probably appreciate the fact that this move will annoy Viacom, which owns Paramount.

    Anyway, Kafka wrote, “[Carloss will] work with Robert Kyncl, the Netflix veteran Google hired last year to figure out its strategy for working with Hollywood and other professional content-makers, which have yet to give the giant site all the video it wants.”

  • Netflix Enters Deal with Epix to Stream More New Releases

    Netflix has entered a new deal with Epix, through which it will let Netflix users instantly watch new releases and library titles from Epix. The movies will begin streaming on September 1, and include content from Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM.

    Epic has subscription pay TV rights to new releases and movies from its partners’ libraries, and Netflix will have access to them 90 days after their premium pay TV and subscription on demand debuts. According to Epix, distribution rights to these films are usually pre-sold to pay TV for as long as 9 years after their theatrical release.

    Epix"Adding EPIX to our growing library of streaming content, as the exclusive Internet-only distributor of this great content, marks the continued emergence of Netflix as a leader in entertainment delivered over the Web," said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix. "The EPIX deal is an example of the innovative ways in which we’re partnering with major content providers to broaden the scope and freshness of choices available to our members to watch instantly over the Internet.”

    Mark Greenberg, president of EPIX, added,  "Netflix is an incredibly popular service and we welcome them as our newest distribution partner. We are pleased to be able to continue our mission of bringing consumers the movies where they want to watch them, while satisfying the differing needs of cable, telco and satellite operators. This deal also underscores the tremendous value of our offerings in the marketplace."

    The more deals like this Netflix is able to make, the better it will do against the increasing amount of competition it faces. Netflix already has a similar deal in place with Starz.