Star Trek, which has not been in theaters since 2016, has largely been overseen by Alex Kurtzman with a lengthy list of Paramount+ series. Execs said that Trek would be looked at holistically rather than siloed off between different parts of the company, such as film and TV.
Ellison seemed to be making an effort to reassure many of their longtime creative partners that they want them to stay with them.
He definitely isn’t looking to cannibalize and raise cash the way the Redstones were doing since the remerger. He’s determined to hang on to BET which I read as a significant signal.
One has to wonder what role Redstone’s desire to sell off pieces played in reintegration and failure to find synergies.
It also seems that Ellison has a personal vision of what he wants to do with legacy media that goes beyond just treating IPs as cash cows. I don’t think we’ve seen everything he intends and it sounds as though he’ll be very hands on in making sure the vision is realized. It will be interesting to watch.
Before all the BS with CBS News happened, I really thought that Skydance was the best of the potential buyers that were floating around at the time.
He’s got a steep hill to climb, but this might be a positive sign.