There is an update on the Paramount takeover buzz that kicked off last month with David Ellison’s Skydance Media reported to have made an offer to purchase control of Paramount Global. A change in ownership for the company that owns Star Trek could have an impact on the future of the franchise.
Not sure I understand the logic given that the Skydance offer has been reported as news by Bloomberg, CNBC, Fortune, Variety and other trade and business publications.
Lots of negativity in this thread, but that seems to be par for the course for any fandom. Personally I'm cautiously optimistic.
Skydance produced/co-produced (often partnering with Paramount) on a number of franchise movies, including Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Jack Reacher, Top Gun, GI Joe, Terminator, The Old Guard and Spy Kids. Some of their productions have been well-received (eg Mission Impossible, Top Gun Maverick) and others less so (Terminator Genysis and Dark Fate, although personally I quite liked Dark Fate). They've also produced smaller, critically acclaimed movies like True Grit, Annihilation and Air; as well as their share of dreck of course, like Geostorm.
What I think is clear though is that Skydance is primarily interested in big franchises, so if they were to acquire Paramount, I think more Star Trek movies would very likely be in the works which, as a fan, I'd be happy about. I know there's an argument that Trek is best suited to TV, but some of the best Star Trek has been big screen Star Trek. And studios are more willing these days to have franchises run across both TV and film concurrently (MCU, DC, Star Wars), granted with mixed success.
Re Larry Ellison's involvement - my guess is that he'd be a silent partner, putting some of his personal fortune - rather than Oracle's funds - to help out his son. I believe he did the same thing for his daughter, Megan Ellison, whose company Annapurna Pictures he helped fun and which went on to produce films like Her, Zero Dark Thirty, Phantom Thread and Books Smart (and the stage musical A Strange Loop). I doubt Larry Ellison will take a hands-on role in the management of Skydance/Paramount.
'Why are people pirating our IP instead of following it around to each walled garden and paying for it!? Won't someone think of the shareholders!' - Some Exec
I mean, it could. Warner Bros could get it, and then they'd make loads of new content and potentially shelve it forever because they get more money in tax write offs.
I work IT and I can tell you, having worked with Oracle stuff, that anything even distantly indirectly involved with Oracle is shit or will become shit. It’s definitely going to be worse than Paramount.
The only thing that would be worse than the spawn of Oracles co-founder, is a private equity firm, and that was also mentioned in the article as a suitor
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