New Paramount Plans to Ramp Film Slate Up to 20 Theatrical Films Per Year

David Ellison has plans that might be music to movie theaters execs’ ears. In a press conference on Tuesday, Paramount’s new leadership team under Skydance says it has a goal of producing up to 20 films per year in a dramatic ramp up of its movie output, and the focus will be on bringing them to theaters.

In their first meeting with reporters in Hollywood since the Paramount Skydance merger closed on Thursday, studio execs said, as TheWrap reported last week, that “Star Trek” will be a top priority for the new company going forward, and that whatever direction Paramount Skydance takes with Gene Roddenberry’s legendary sci-fi series will be one that unifies both the film and TV divisions.

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“We are not going to be siloed off so that there’s one conversation happening about television and another conversation happening about film,” co-chair Dana Goldberg said. “We’re going to make sure these conversations are happening together so that we can do what’s best for the brand as a whole.”

Along with bringing “Trek” back to its film slate for the first time since “Star Trek: Beyond” in 2016, Goldberg says that she would like to see Paramount produce more family films like “Night at the Museum” and “Gremlins.” Under prior studio head Brian Robbins, Paramount played into this primarily through IP like “Paw Patrol,” “Sonic the Hedgehog” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” but also greenlit John Krasinski’s original live-action/CGI hybrid family film “IF” last year to modestly successful results.

“These are movies that a family could say ‘We’re all going to go see on a Saturday night, and we’re all happy to see it together, because there’s something for everyone in it.’ We’re going to run towards those movies,” she said.

Paramount’s plans to ramp up their movie slate echo those made by other companies like Amazon MGM, which seeks to fill in the hole left at the box office by Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox with its own slate of 12-14 films per year starting in 2026. Currently, Paramount has five films on its 2026 slate with three more in post-production that are expected to be dated in the months to come, according to studio insiders.

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But like Amazon MGM, Paramount Skydance is hedging its bets when it comes to the thorny issue of theatrical windows, one that every studio in Hollywood has taken a different stance on. Jeff Shell, Paramount’s new president, played a major role in the shrinking of that theatrical window in 2020 when, as head of NBCUniversal, he helped negotiate a deal with AMC Theatres that allowed Universal to release theatrical films on premium on-demand as early as 17 days after their big screen release, depending on box office performance.

While Shell and Paramount streaming head Cindy Holland told reporters Tuesday that direct-to-streaming films are not a priority for Paramount Skydance, Shell stopped short of committing to a firm theatrical window length, something that has been pushed hard by theater executives like Cinema United CEO Michael O’Leary, who called for an industry-wide 45-day theatrical window at CinemaCon this past spring.

“Do I believe you can maximize value in windows? Absolutely, and we’re going to be looking at our windows across [the board],” Shell said. “I don’t think each movie is created equal. Different movies deserve different windows. Theatrical is critical and has to be part of the equation, but we’re going to be much more diligent about looking at the value.”

Skydance also hinted at trying to resurrect some IP from its own portfolio, such as the 2013 film “World War Z.” Starring Brad Pitt and hitting theaters at the height of the zombie genre’s grip on the zeitgeist fueled by AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” “World War Z” was a summer success with $540 million grossed at the global box office.

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Goldberg and fellow studio chair Josh Greenstein also gave a nod towards original films too, pointing out Skydance’s first deal on day one of their ownership for “High Side,” a superbike heist film that will reunite “A Complete Unknown” actor-director duo Timothee Chalamet and James Mangold.

The post New Paramount Plans to Ramp Film Slate Up to 20 Theatrical Films Per Year appeared first on TheWrap.