Paramount Pictures Could Soon Be Sold To Skydance

TV & Film

Apr 5

Paramount Pictures gate — Image Source: West Hawaii Today

In the summer of 2023, the Redstone family acknowledged that it was finally time to let Paramount Pictures go. Despite producing several hits and critically acclaimed movies (Killers of the Flower Moon received ten Oscar nominations), the studio never recovered from Covid-19 and the passing of media behemoth Sumner M. Redstone. A feeding frenzy of buyers has been fighting over the property ever since. This included Warner Bros. Discovery, and investment fund Apollo Global Management, who own equity in everything from cruise liners to organic food retailers.

Shari Redstone, the non-executive chair looks to be sitting down with Skydance to do a deal. Skydance would appear as the natural successor to the Redstone Family. The studio has worked closely with Paramount Pictures for several years, on some of its most successful movies. Star Trek Beyond, The Mission Impossible franchise, and Top Gun: Maverick came out of this pairing. It would be able to continue with any major projects in development without too much interruption. The young CEO, David Ellison is the son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, so capital is unlikely to be a problem.

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Warner Bros pulled out of talks last month after a financial analysis predicted the merger would negatively impact both companies, leaving Skydance as the front runner. Paramount and Skydance have yet to move to exclusive negotiations, but both sides are positive and agree that potential is there. So, it may only be a matter of time.

There is one slight sticking point. Shari Redstone is insisting that any buyer also takes on theatre operator, National Amusements. This might make the deal more complicated for movie and animation studio, Skydance and give the more diversified Apollo Global Management the edge.

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