Ok. What is the chance of a Picard spinoff?

[FederationHistorian]

Why would they buy Paramount (and assume the company's $15 billion debt on top of Warner's own $40 billion debt)?

Maybe there is an idea with to have the studios works on films within a specific budget range.

Paramount: makes strictly mid-budget movies, including streaming films like Section 31, and a bunch of series that have been binned as tax-write offs.

WBD; strictly makes big budget movies and television with major IPs (so not just DC and Harry Potter, but Mission Impossible, Transformers and possibly Star Trek (at least the Kelvin films).

Of course, this is all a stab in the dark. I have no idea if its happening, or even remotely feasible at all.

And from what I'm hearing, Skydance has the money to buy Paramount, which sounds far more realistic and sensible.

 

[Reanok]

Paramount global according to MSN financial news is laying off 800 workers to try and save money. They've been down sizing tv shows and movies due to finance problems that Paramount is having in general due to the strikes and stuff like that hit them in the pocket book pretty hard and they're trying to get things Like Star Trek Section 31 made and movies like Mission Impossible finished they just announced Tom Cruise was going to to make a third Top Gun 3 Movie.

 

[evilchumlee]

It's entirely possible to make Star Trek on less of a budget... it's just not going to be Prestige Format.

They missed a golden opportunity to do a (probably incredibly) cheap show banking on nostalgia and aimed at streaming services in something like like the fan-produced TOS continuations or Axanar. Do a straight up, TOS-era show. TOS merchandise has always sold the best... have new adventures in a new Constitution-Class doing Star Treky stuff and you've got yourself a TV show on the cheap that will make money.

It won't be the highest rated show of all time or anything, but there is certainly a market for it, and the budget could be insane low.

 

[HotRod]

It's entirely possible to make Star Trek on less of a budget... it's just not going to be Prestige Format.

They missed a golden opportunity to do a (probably incredibly) cheap show banking on nostalgia and aimed at streaming services in something like like the fan-produced TOS continuations or Axanar. Do a straight up, TOS-era show. TOS merchandise has always sold the best... have new adventures in a new Constitution-Class doing Star Treky stuff and you've got yourself a TV show on the cheap that will make money.

It won't be the highest rated show of all time or anything, but there is certainly a market for it, and the budget could be insane low.

And it would be appealing to an incredibly small demographic of people, Hardcore Trekkies. You're not going to gain any new audience members with a show that looks like 1967. None of us are getting any younger. If the franchise doesn't expand, it will die.

 

[XCV330]

And it would be appealing to an incredibly small demographic of people, Hardcore Trekkies. You're not going to gain any new audience members with a show that looks like 1967. None of us are getting any younger. If the franchise doesn't expand, it will die.

it's expanding.. just over on Netflix with the best growth potential series that Paramount dropped.

 

[The Wormhole]

It won't be the highest rated show of all time or anything,

And that's why the studio isn't interested in such an idea.

 

[evilchumlee]

And it would be appealing to an incredibly small demographic of people, Hardcore Trekkies. You're not going to gain any new audience members with a show that looks like 1967. None of us are getting any younger. If the franchise doesn't expand, it will die.

But if it's too expensive, it will die...

I do think the future might be in animation, although I don't think they're quite hitting the mark on either one of they have right now. Prodigy is surprisingly good, but it does very much feel like a childrens show. Lower Decks is also good, but it's a bit too overly ridiculous wannabe Rick and Morty.

I want a middle ground animated show, more in the vein of the some of the Star Wars animation. Still perhaps aimed at younger viewers, but not "kiddie".

 

[Danja]

I do think the future might be in animation, although I don't think they're quite hitting the mark on either one of they have right now. Prodigy is surprisingly good, but it does very much feel like a childrens show. Lower Decks is also good, but it's a bit too overly ridiculous wannabe Rick and Morty.

I want a middle ground animated show, more in the vein of the some of the Star Wars animation. Still perhaps aimed at younger viewers, but not "kiddie".

What about anime?

 

[fireproof78]

And it would be appealing to an incredibly small demographic of people, Hardcore Trekkies. You're not going to gain any new audience members with a show that looks like 1967. None of us are getting any younger. If the franchise doesn't expand, it will die.

Yup, it will die and will be celebrated for dying because it didn't "sell out" or become to commercialized. There seems to be an underlying desire that to keep Trek the same and dying in terms of production is better than what is currently produced.

 

[Dukhat]

And it would be appealing to an incredibly small demographic of people, Hardcore Trekkies. You're not going to gain any new audience members with a show that looks like 1967. None of us are getting any younger. If the franchise doesn't expand, it will die.

Agreed. I doubt any person completely unfamiliar with Star Trek, who has an interest in checking it out for the first time, would be watching Lower Decks or Picard for any more than a few episodes before turning it off in disinterest.

I know that wasn't the point you were trying to make, but that's what I got out of it.

 

[evilchumlee]

What about anime?

Preferably not. But I just have a general aversion to anime.

 

[The Wormhole]

Prodigy is surprisingly good, but it does very much feel like a childrens show.

It is a children's show.

 

[evilchumlee]

It is a children's show.

I know... which is I suggested that there should be an animated show somewhere inbetween Prodigy and Lower Decks.

 

[fireproof78]

It is a children's show.

Ridiculous that it would feel like a children's show then...

 

[Danja]

What are the odds that at the end of December 2024, Paramount Global still exists as a standalone entity with standalone streaming service Paramount+Showtime still under Sheri Redstone / National Amusements?

Right now, better than 50% (Penny-pinching Zaslav is not going to give Redstone the price she wants for her NA shares).

 

[James Cole]

2024 is the year of 50/50 odds...

That escalating elephant in the room...

Paramount / CBS future...

And of course Legacy... which had the streaming bubble managed to hang on just a few years more would likely have already been a go, give or take where Kurtzman really stands on it.

 

[Danja]

Skydance makes a bid for Paramount:

https://deadline.com/2024/01/skydan...ional-amusements-paramount-global-1235804196/

Paramount / CBS future...

And of course Legacy... which had the streaming bubble managed to hang on just a few years more would likely have already been a go, give or take where Kurtzman really stands on it.

There's the thorny question of "What do you do with two Enterprises existing at the same time?" (Albeit two hundred years apart.)

Warner Bros. Discovery was also kicking the tires of NAI/Paramount Global with CEO David Zaslav having conversations with both Shari Redstone and Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish. Wall Street gave that proposition a big thumbs down given WBD’s debt and struggle to get its own financial house in order since Discovery and Warner Media merged.

Sorry, haters ... Batman is not going to be flying the Enterprise any time soon.

 

[Campe]

I think Skydance is a more realistic possibility anyway.

 

[UssGlenn]

Taking the company private has the benefit of removing quarterly earnings reports, thus allowing longer term strategic moves.

If I was them I'd sell off all the cable networks, use the funds to pay down the debt, then shut down paramount+ and focus on making content for CBS, movies, and selling to other streamers.

 

[Danja]

https://variety.com/2024/biz/features/paramount-warner-bros-discovery-potential-merger-1235875737/

From the article:

In this landscape, every media company is “on the table at some level,” says Doug Creutz, TD Cowen senior media analyst. But Creutz believes a major M&A deal is unlikely to transpire within the next 12 months. “There are not enough buyers, and there are too many risks. There’s a lot of talk. But who’s actually going to pull the trigger? It’s not really clear anybody is going to step up,” Creutz says.

I'm assuming Creutz is much more knowledgeable than US.

If I was them I'd sell off all the cable networks, use the funds to pay down the debt, then shut down paramount+ and focus on making content for CBS, movies, and selling to other streamers.

What's the point if no one is watching CBS?

Network TV viewership has been in decline for years (Internet, cord cutting, streaming).