by Kelsey Rowland
Brief Overview
Paramount Pictures [1] started in 1914 when Jesse L. Lasky and the Famous Players Film Company joined forces to create their own production company, Paramount Pictures Corporation. Throughout the years, Paramount went through many different name changes and ownership, until January 2006 when Viacom and CBS split, and Viacom became the official owner of Paramount Pictures.
As far as other assets [2] of Paramount Pictures, MTV Films, Nickelodeon Movies, Paramount Animation, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Classics, and Paramount Vantage all fall under the corporation’s ownership. Meanwhile, out in Hollywood, Paramount has a 64-acre production and business center, which includes over thirty sound stages which have all been variously used for major award-winning motion pictures.
Recent News
Paramount Pictures had a great start to their year when they released their low-budget horror film The Devil Inside [3]. Due to the timing at the beginning of the year, most studios avoid release dates near there since they coincide too closely with holiday releases. However, the movie surprisingly had a strong opening weekend box office, ending with $33.7 million.
In late January, Paramount Pictures had six of their movies nominated for various Academy Awards (Hugo, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Puss In Boots, Kung Fu Panda 2, Rango, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon) [4]. The categories they were nominated for were Best Picture, Animated Feature Film, Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Music (Original Score), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, and Writing (Adapted Screenplay). After the nominations were released, Paramount decided to re-release it’s Best Animated Feature Film nominee and $230 million earning film Rango for a one-week limited engagement [5].
In February, Paramount won six Academy Awards. Rango won for Best Animated Film (Rango) while Hugo did amazingly well and left with 5 Awards (Cinematography, Art Direction, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Visual Effects) [6].
During the past few months, Paramount has been promoting their new release of their most famous movie, The Titanic, in 3D, which is set to premiere on April 4th, 2012 [7]. When the film was originally re-released it won 11 Academy Awards [8] and became the second highest grossing film of all time [9]. The digitally re-mastered re-release was purposely set for this opening date to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Titanic’s first and only departure. In it’s opening weekend, Titanic 3D earned $17,285,453 after being released in 2,674 theaters [10].
During the past few months, Paramount has also been looking into a modern version of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. However, this version will be different from previous adaptions as it will feature Tom and Huck as adults and include supernatural elements. The movie will be titled Huck and Tom and no release date has been set yet [11].
In January, Paramount Pictures announced that the principal photography to the next Star Trek movie had begun [12]. The director of this sequel is J.J. Abrams and the film is will be released in 3D on May 17th, 2013.
In February, Paramount announced that director Michael Bay signed a two-picture deal with them [13]. The films will be Pain and Gain and the fourth installment of the Transformers series. Pain and Gain will star Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson, commonly known as “The Rock.” It is expected to start filming early this spring. After Pain and Gain, Michael Bay will film the next installment of Transformers, a big task considering the last installment, Transformers: The Dark of the Moon, became the fourth highest grossing film of all time. The film will be released on June 27th, 2014.
In February, the President of Paramount animation, David Stainton, resigned for personal reasons. Also in February, Paramount announced that they would be making a Spongebob movie to give a big push to their animation effort. The movie is set to be released in late 2014 [14].
Later in February, Sacha Baron Cohen signed a first-look deal with Paramount that will extend for the next three years. This gives Paramount an exclusive look at Sacha and his Four by Two Films developments and created a development fund which will be used for the actor to start projects in the U.K. [15].
At the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival on March 9th, Paramounts Insurge Pictures annouched that their new movie The Loved Ones will be released in June 2012 through a new way of watching. Starting that day, people interested in the movie could go online and book a screening at their local movie theaters and invite friends to come watch the movie with them. The much talked-about movie is described as “Sixteen Candles meets The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” [16].
In late March, the overnight novel sensation, 50 Shades of Grey has studios fighting for the rights to adapt the book into a movie. Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Fox 2000, Universal and Paramount Pictures are amongst the studios fighting for those rights. In their pitch to the author, E.L. James, and her agent, Paramount purportedly made a video of their female executives reading and reacting positively to the book [17]. However, Universal and Focus Features landed the deal.
On April 4th, Google made a deal with Paramount to license almost 500 films for play on YouTube and Google Play. However, this news came as surprise to many as Google is currently in a billion dollar copyright infringement lawsuit with Viacom, the parent company of Paramount Pictures [18].
Also in early April, it was announced that Paramount Pictures partnered with Katy Perry to produce a 3D feature film which will document Katy’s California Dreams Tour and give audiences a look into her life both on and off the stage. Brian Grazer will produce the film along with Katy’s management team at Direct Management Group. The film will be released this summer on July 5th, 2012 [19].
In late April, Paramount Pictures announced that they plan on bringing The Ringling Brothers into a feature film as a “fanciful family adventure.” The writers of The Smurfs, Devid Stem and David Weiss, to write the film which will revolve around the seven brothers that founded the circus [20].
Citations:
1) http://www.paramount.com/studio/history
2) http://www.cjr.org/resources/?c=viacom
3) http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/mar/20/the-devil-inside-box-office?newsfeed=true
4) http://www.paramount.com/news?page=1
5) http://www.paramount.com/news/press-releases/paramount-to-re-release-academy-award®-nominated-“rango”-beginning-this-friday-january-27th
6) http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/84/nominees.html
7) http://www.titanicmovie.com/
8) http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/70th-winners.html
9) http://www.imdb.com/boxoffice/alltimegross
10) http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=titanic3d.htm
11) http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/huck-and-tom-supernatural-nadam.php
12) http://www.paramount.com/news/press-releases/jj-abrams-begins-production-on-the-next-“star-trek”-movie
13) http://www.paramount.com/news/press-releases/director-michael-bay-signs-two-picture-deal-with-paramount
14) http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/02/paramount-animation-chief-david-stainton-resigns.html
15) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/risky-business/sacha-baron-cohen-dictator-paramount-296024
16) http://www.paramount.com/news/press-releases/paramount-insurge-lets-fans-book-a-date-with-“the-loved-ones”-in-local-theaters
17) http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/03/50-shades-of-grey-studios-vie-for-rights-to-erotic-bestseller/
18) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/paramount-google-license-deal-307472
19) http://www.paramount.com/news/press-releases/“katy-perry-part-of-me”-from-producers-katy-perry-direct-management-imagine-entertainment-aeg-and-em
20) http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=89545