Paramount Day: An Appraisal

The big corporate rebrand: ViacomCBS is no more, and the new company will be known as Paramount, although the technical name is Paramount Global. It will trade on the Nasdaq (class A common) as PARAA I Details.

The Showtime shift: Starting in the summer, Paramount+ will offer a streamlined signup for Showtime programming within the app. That means Paramount+ subscribers will not have to move to the Showtime stand-alone service to watch hits like Dexter: New Blood. $12 and $15 tiers.

The streaming stats so far: Paramount+ has 32.8 million subscribers and boasts a domestic average revenue per user for Paramount+ of $9 per user during Q4. (That figure compares to $14.78 for Netflix in the U.S./Canada, $6.68 for Disney+, and $11.15 for HBO and HBO Max domestically.) Story.

Their forecast. With current Paramount+ subscriber numbers exceeding previous expectations, executives are now eyeing a new benchmark: upwards of 120 million subscribers by 2024.

And, yes, the big content deals: 

+ A new Star Trek film is planned for Dec. 2023 from J.J. Abrams, with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana and John Cho in talks to reprise roles.

+ A Quiet Place Part III is officially in the works with a target release date of 2025 (no director attached yet). 

+ A third Sonic the Hedgehog movie is being developed, while a live-action series centering on the Idris Elba-voiced Knuckles is set for streaming service Paramount+.

+ Taylor Sheridan's universe is growing as more episodes of 1883 along with another Yellowstone prequel series,1932, were unveiled and Billy Bob Thornton has been cast in series Land Man. 

+ Trey Parker and Matt Stone's South Park will see its vast library make the move from HBO Max to Paramount+ in 2025. 

+ Mike Judge and Greg Daniels' Beavis and Butt-Head will return with new episodes this year and forgo its debut on Comedy Central in favor of Paramount+.

+ Halo, which hasn't yet launched, will get a season two with David Wiener taking over for Kyle Killen and Steven Kane as showrunner on the live-action series.

+ Paramount+ also picked up a local Australian take on mega-franchise NCIS and a movie incarnation of CBS’ recently renewed drama SEAL Team.

Meanwhile at WarnerMedia...



^That's CNN's own story, from Brian Stelter, about the resignation of top marketing officer Allison Gollust, which was published shortly after a New York Times investigation of ex-network chief Jeff Zucker and the Cuomo brothers broke.

The Times story included reporting that a sexual assault claim had been leveled against Chris Cuomo by a woman who worked with the anchor when he was at ABC News: "She said he had sexually assaulted her and that, in the heat of the #MeToo movement, Mr. Cuomo had tried to keep her quiet by arranging a flattering CNN segment about her employer at the time." (A Cuomo rep "denied the allegations" to the Times.)

In a memo, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said of a third-party investigation of conduct: "Based on interviews of more than 40 individuals and a review of over 100,000 texts and emails, the investigation found violations of Company policies, including CNN’s News Standards and Practices, by Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, and Chris Cuomo." 

From THR. Esq...

_ Village Roadshow loses key early round to Warner Bros. VREG rolled the dice when it took its case against Warners over the allegedly botched release of Matrix Resurrections out of arbitration to a lawsuit. That gambit went up in flames.

_ Rust shooting wrongful death lawsuit filed. The family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins announced a wrongful death suit, filed in New Mexico, against Alec Baldwin and “others responsible for the safety on set and whose reckless behavior” led to her “senseless and tragic death.” Full story.

Elsewhere in film...

► Netflix plans BioShock movie. The streaming giant and game developer Take-Two Interactive have been working on a screen rights deal for close to a year. No writer or filmmaker is on board at this time.

► Universal sets date for canine comedy Strays. The Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx film will strut into theaters on June 9, 2023. A live-action/CGI hybrid.

► Focus Features, Working Title board Polite Society. The companies are partnering for the feature directorial debut from We Are Lady Parts creator Nida Manzoor. The action-comedy recently wrapped filming in London.

► Alamo Drafthouse workers plan to unionize. Workers at the theater chain's flagship Austin location have announced a union, citing their interest in changes to wages and benefits and more clarity around COVID-19 health policies. Story.

TV Review: Space Force (Season 2)

From: Steve Carell and Greg Daniels I Netflix I Feb. 18

"The bad news is that it still doesn’t really work. If season one was just promising enough to seem worth another chance, season two remains just disappointing enough to suggest we don’t need another." — THR's Angie Han.

Elsewhere in TV...

► AMC Networks tops 9 million streaming subscribers. The owner of AMC, AMC+, IFC, BBC America, Acorn TV and Shudder reiterated its projection that it would reach 20-25 million streaming subscribers by the end of 2025. AMC also recorded full-year revenue of $3.1 billion, up 9 percent.

► HBO's Barry finally has return date. After three years off the air, the Bill Hader series will return Sunday, April 24. The new season will consist of eight episodes.

► Peacock is joining the true-crime fray. The NBCU-backed streamer has handed out a straight-to-series order for A Friend of the Family, a scripted drama based on the harrowing story of the Broberg family.

► Fox plans Bloom County series. Berkeley Breathed's iconic cartoon strip is being developed into an animated series that will comment on current culture with the reclusive creator's involvement.

► Hulu renews How I Met Your Father. The pickup of the 20th TV series from Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger comes midway through season one. Season two will comprise 20 episodes — double the count for the current season.

► Apple TV+ plans doc series on Patriots. The streamer has ordered The Dynasty from Imagine Documentaries. It will chronicle the NFL team’s past two decades and the era defined by coach Bill Belichick and QB Tom Brady. Story. 

► ABC’s Promised Land banished to Hulu. The Disney-owned network gave the Latinx family drama starring John Ortiz five episodes to find an audience, but with seven days of DVR factored in, the first four episodes averaged only 2.9 million total viewers. A pseudo cancellation.

► NBCUniversal rebrands TV DEI efforts. Among the existing initiatives is a new program aimed at training below-the-line crew members from historically excluded backgrounds.

*Metaverse news to watch: Disney now has a new executive in charge of its efforts in the metaverse, Mike White, who was promoted to senior vp in change of next generation storytelling. Details.

Yes, I Did Say That

“I think that’s a bizarre reaction." — Cynthia Nixon, to Vogue, about fans who have felt that Miranda isn’t as level-headed as they would expect her to be on HBO Max’s Sex and the City sequel series.
 

What else we're reading...

— "A startup that plans to spend $1 billion on YouTube back catalogs breaks down what it looks for in creators and videos." [Insider]

— "Nearly a quarter of Americans get news from podcasts." "At the same time, more than half of Americans (56%) say they never get news from podcasts, suggesting there is still quite a lot of growth potential." [Pew Research]

— "Google plans privacy changes, but promises to not be disruptive." "Similar changes made by Apple affected big internet companies." [New York Times]

— "The joy of Kendrick Sampson." "The actor and activist is a serious guy. He speaks with ease about liberation from police violence and the scourge of capitalism. But he also knows how to act a damn fool sometimes." [Esquire]

— "Inventing Anna is a 'dangerous' distortion, says Rachel Williams." "The former V.F. staffer, who was conned out of $62,000 by Anna Sorokin, questions Netflix’s decision to pay the proven criminal more than $300,000 for her life rights." [Vanity Fair]

— "Meditation could be VR's next killer app." "Mindfulness has grown into a billion-dollar business on mobile. Are VR meditations next?" [Protocol]

Today's birthdays: Abel Makkonen Tesfaye (The Weeknd), 32, Elizabeth Olsen, 33, Mahershala Ali, 48, Lachlan Murdoch, 51, Ice-T, 64, LeVar Burton, 65.