For some time now a merger between Paramount and various parties has been contemplated, with the legacy studio’s fate hanging in the balance. But nothing has seemed certain, even with a massive offer from Sony being on the table. At least, that was the case before today, as it appears that a merger is moving forward, and the other party involved seems to be the best case suitor for the legacy Hollywood studio.
Per reporting from CNBC, both Paramount and Skydance have agreed to a merger between both of their companies, in a deal supposedly valued at $8 billion. Apparently, the final step that seems to be in the works is approval from Shari Redstone, the controlling shareholder of Paramount Pictures.
With the company’s annual shareholder meeting set to take place tomorrow, the clock would seem to be ticking on this promising development. Both halves of this new corporate entity stand to benefit from joining together; especially when taking into account some key factors of the modern entertainment landscape.
Why The Paramount Merger Benefits Skydance
Up until now, Skydance has been a pretty fantastic ally for Paramount, particularly in the realm of movies. With the David Ellison founded production company getting it start by teaming up with Paramount to release one of the best western movies, 2010’s True Grit, that relationship has blossomed into partnerships that have woven through the studio’s largest properties.
As Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, and Top Gun have all seen Skydance’s involvement throughout this span of time, some pretty huge hits have been banked. So in terms of Skydance getting to continue working with those sandboxes, the Paramount merger seems to benefit the relatively younger company.
What’s more, thanks to Skydance having relationships with other streaming providers, thanks to original films like Netflix’s The Old Guard and series like Apple TV+’s Silo, there’s a possibility that sweeter licensing deals to Paramount’s legacy catalogue might be in the works. And that point in particular is also where this subject pivots the other way, giving Paramount some added value.
How Skydance’s Merger With Paramount Helps The Legacy Studio
With the existence of Paramount+, the more established studio of this partnership is one of the handful that has its own proprietary home in the streaming landscape. Just as Paramount could give Skydance leverage with its previous partners on that very scene, the company could also benefit directly by licensing previous projects for inclusion on its home base platform.
For anyone who has a Paramount+ subscription, but doesn’t want to open a Prime Video account just to watch Reacher, this could be very good news.
However, nabbing series like Silo and Foundation for streaming reruns isn’t the only advantage Paramount could cash in on. Should Skydance want to secure a pipeline for theatrical distribution on its streaming films, Paramount would be a keen partner to make that sort of thing happen. And believe it or not, there’s a project that’s already on the books at another streaming studio that could act as the first test case for how Skydance’s new corporate home would benefit it the most.
The Old Guard Is The Best Paramount/Skydance Merger Test Case
And if there’s one movie that exemplifies the sum total advantage of this entire deal, it’s the in limbo sequel The Old Guard 2. That project, which is current in post-production, has been in a weird sort of limbo with Netflix. It seems that the future of this project is uncertain, but that’s exactly the sort of advantage a Skydance/Paramount merger could use as a cornerstone to future success.
On the streaming side, both licensing The Old Guard and securing the future rights to the Charlize Theron-led sequel would be a coup for the audience that helped make that first film a massive at home Netflix hit. Which only makes the prospect of taking The Old Guard 2 up for a wide theatrical release all the more tempting.
While no sort of deal is in play to make that happen at the moment, it feels like a smart move considering that uncertainty previously mentioned. Paramount’s theatrical branch would be able to send this potential blockbuster follow up into wide release; much as has with movies like Apple original film Killers of the Flower Moon.
Now there’s still a chance that this deal might somehow fall apart between now and tomorrow’s Paramount shareholder meeting. However, I’m confident that the preexisting relationship Skydance has with the studio, as well as the potential advantages listed above, are all reasons for why this deal is more than likely going forward.
We’ll have to wait and see how things shake out, but while we do that, feel free to check out the 2024 movie schedule. There are plenty of exciting offerings that await in the near future, some of which are Paramount titles like Sonic the Hedgehog 3!