Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Feb 21, 2017 12:17:13 GMT -6
deadline.com/2017/02/brad-grey-paramount-pictures-viacom-bob-bakish-1201917475/
Viacom Looks Beyond Brad Grey Era Towards Future Of Paramount
BREAKING: Though no official release has been sent yet, Brad Grey’s 12 year reign is over and Paramount Pictures has officially ended and Viacom is looking onto the future. Our sister publication Variety went up with a succession committed that has been making the rounds last night, that will include Par TV exec Amy Powell, business affairs exec Andrew Gumpert, production president Marc Evans and marketing head Megan Colligan. They’ll help Viacom chairman Bob Bakish as he tries to solidify the future of the studio. Bakish has also been negotiating with Grey the terms of his exit, and an official divorce could happen today.
What is interesting is that Paramount has has two of the nine films up for Best Picture at Sunday’s Oscars, with the Denis Villenueve-directed Arrival and the Denzel Washington-directed Fences. It also has an upcoming slate that shows promise, with the Scarlett Johansson-starrer Ghost in the Shell, the Alex Garland-directed sci-fi pic Annihilation, the Bruce Willis-starrer Death Wish, Alexander Payne-directed Downsizing with Matt Damon, the Darren Aronofsky-directed mother! with Jennifer Lawrence, the Dwayne Johnson-starrer Baywatch, and Transformers: The Last Knight, with another Christopher McQuarrie directing Tom Cruise in another Mission: Impossible.
The problem for Grey was that he picked a bad time to have his worst year, with the studio at the bottom of the heap in 2016, losing $455 million for the fiscal year that ended in September. Sequels didn’t work: Star Trek Beyond, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Zoolander 2, and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back were way down from previous outings. The year ended with pricey flops Allied, the Robert Zemeckis-directed Brad Pitt-starrer and Monster Trucks, the long gestating family film which drew a write down of $115 million long before it was even released.
This happened just as the long struggle for power at Viacom ended, with Sumner Redstone’s former estate lawyer Philippe Dauman out and Redstone’s daughter Shari in control. She tapped Bob Bakish to be interim and then permanent chief after the exploratory talks ended that would have fused Redstone’s Viacom with the much healthier CBS. Bakish will move to install a new chairman to lead the studio’s rebound.
Viacom Looks Beyond Brad Grey Era Towards Future Of Paramount
BREAKING: Though no official release has been sent yet, Brad Grey’s 12 year reign is over and Paramount Pictures has officially ended and Viacom is looking onto the future. Our sister publication Variety went up with a succession committed that has been making the rounds last night, that will include Par TV exec Amy Powell, business affairs exec Andrew Gumpert, production president Marc Evans and marketing head Megan Colligan. They’ll help Viacom chairman Bob Bakish as he tries to solidify the future of the studio. Bakish has also been negotiating with Grey the terms of his exit, and an official divorce could happen today.
What is interesting is that Paramount has has two of the nine films up for Best Picture at Sunday’s Oscars, with the Denis Villenueve-directed Arrival and the Denzel Washington-directed Fences. It also has an upcoming slate that shows promise, with the Scarlett Johansson-starrer Ghost in the Shell, the Alex Garland-directed sci-fi pic Annihilation, the Bruce Willis-starrer Death Wish, Alexander Payne-directed Downsizing with Matt Damon, the Darren Aronofsky-directed mother! with Jennifer Lawrence, the Dwayne Johnson-starrer Baywatch, and Transformers: The Last Knight, with another Christopher McQuarrie directing Tom Cruise in another Mission: Impossible.
The problem for Grey was that he picked a bad time to have his worst year, with the studio at the bottom of the heap in 2016, losing $455 million for the fiscal year that ended in September. Sequels didn’t work: Star Trek Beyond, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Zoolander 2, and Jack Reacher: Never Go Back were way down from previous outings. The year ended with pricey flops Allied, the Robert Zemeckis-directed Brad Pitt-starrer and Monster Trucks, the long gestating family film which drew a write down of $115 million long before it was even released.
This happened just as the long struggle for power at Viacom ended, with Sumner Redstone’s former estate lawyer Philippe Dauman out and Redstone’s daughter Shari in control. She tapped Bob Bakish to be interim and then permanent chief after the exploratory talks ended that would have fused Redstone’s Viacom with the much healthier CBS. Bakish will move to install a new chairman to lead the studio’s rebound.