Paramount Pictures Thrills Fans With Gladiator II and Exciting New Damien Chazelle Project

With reports and rumours swirling about possible mergers and bids to acquire Paramount, the film studio put its best foot forward for theatre owners at CinemaCon. The historic studio on Thursday announced a new film with Oscar-winning La La Land director Damien Chazelle, a G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover and that Glen Powell will star in Edgar Wight's Running Man reboot. Paramount CEO and President Brian Robbins also teased some more that are in development, including a Bee Gees film from Ridley Scott, a new comedy from Trey Parker and Matt Stone, a Star Trek origin story, a new Scary Movie and an R-rated live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin as well as an animated “Mutant Mayhem” sequel. They also brought out stars like Chris Hemsworth and Lupita Nyong'o to talk about their upcoming films, with video messages from Scott, Denzel Washington and Paul Mescal, who helped introduce new footage from Gladiator II. Knuckles Trailer: Idris Elba Takes Lead in Sonic the Hedgehog Spinoff; Series to Premiere From April 26 and 27 (Watch Video).

Washington promised, “Emotion, action and spectacle unlike anything else you're going to see in theatres this year.” Paramount had a positive start to 2024 with successful releases like Mean Girls and Bob Marley: One Love, and some major films to come this year, including A Quiet Place: Day One (June 28), the animated Transformers One (September 13), a Smile sequel (October 18) and the Gladiator sequel (November 22). They will also re-release Christopher Nolan's Interstellar in September for its 10th anniversary and, in 2025, Mission: Impossible 8. But hovering over it all are the reports of the company's sales.

Paramount Confirms Gladiator II, New Damien Chazelle Project & A Stream of Upcoming Hits

Damien Chazelle to Helm Untitled Project for Paramount Pictures

The private-equity firm Apollo Global reportedly offered USD 11 billion to acquire the studio, which has filmed entertainment, television and streaming components like Paramount+. There have also been reports of a possible merger with Skydance, David Ellison's media company that has helped produce such Paramount releases as Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning. Without directly addressing them, Paramount leaned into the chatter with Robbins joking that the studio's distribution head Chris Aronson has started a Kickstarter to throw his hat into the ring. Director Toby Haynes, Known for 'Andor,' Joins Paramount for New 'Star Trek' Movie!.

While the tone at CinemaCon, a weeklong gathering of theatre owners, exhibitors and all the various companies involved in movie theatre operations and experiences, is usually overwhelmingly positive, Aronson took a more sober approach. After entering the presentation in a Roman chariot holding a shield emblazoned with the Paramount logo, he noted that the industry has lost a fair amount of frequent moviegoers and must work to get them back with capital improvements to theatres and other innovations. The domestic box office has improved yearly since the pandemic but is still about USD 2 billion, shy of where the business was pre-pandemic. “Our industry is at a turning point,” Aronson said. “It's quite clear that moviegoers still love going to the movies, but we as an industry must do better.”