Up-to-date Paramount targets ‘Top Gun’, ‘World War Z’ sequels, 15 films a year rising to 20

The fresh Paramount will prioritise Top Gun, World War Z and Star Trek sequels and return to the pinnacle of Hollywood for filmmakers and talent, CEO David Ellison declared at a Los Angeles press event.

Less than one week after the $8.4bn merger with Skydance Media closed, Ellison and his executive team outlined the studio’s theatrical ambitions on Wednesday.

Josh Greenstein, who recently left Sony and is co-head of the motion picture co-head with Dana Goldberg, said the goal was to release 15 films a year as soon as possible, rising to 20. The studio’s recent annual output has fallen in the 11-14 range.

The Transformers franchise was also referenced, as were family films, R-rated comedies, and originals. On August 7, the day the merger closed, Greenstein and Goldberg announced they had acquired High Side, a heist project and one of the hottest packages in town that reunites Timothée Chalamet and his A Complete Unknown director James Mangold.

Paramount president Jeff Shell, the architect of collapsed windows during his tenure at NBCUniversal, said he was on board with theatrical and acknowledged its value in the revenue waterfall – adding that windowing would reflect the specific profile of individual films.

Streaming head Cindy Holland, who was a star at Netflix for years before consulting for Ellison at Skydance Media, has the job of growing the Paramount+ pipeline. Holland said the Taylor Sheridan universe, referring to the creator of shows like Yellowstone, 1923 and Landman, provided a solid foundation, and added that making films for streaming was not a priority.

There will be layoffs as the company looks to make $2bn in savings. Shell said the redundancies would be handled in one fell swoop and not dragged out every quarter, but declined to elaborate on timing.

Paramount+ just acquired UFC rights in a $7.7bn seven-year deal and paid $1.5bn to South Park creators to keep Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s irreverent animated comedy series exclusively on Paramount+