Nickelodeon head Brian Robbins expected to guide Paramount

Paramount Images Chairman and Chief Government Jim Gianopulos will phase down from the ViacomCBS-owned studio, in accordance to two people common with the matter who had been not authorized to remark.

Father or mother company ViacomCBS is expected to title Brian Robbins, at the moment president and CEO of Nickelodeon, as Gianopulos’ replacement, the people common with the plans claimed. ViacomCBS could announce the appointment as before long as next week.

Robbins, an government with chops honed in the worlds of digital leisure and common film and tv, is an suitable applicant for the job as ViacomCBS appears to the storied Paramount studio to aid expand streaming services these as Paramount+.

A previous actor and film director, Robbins is seen as a mounting star inside of ViacomCBS. He took the work of president of Nickelodeon in 2018, placing him in the position of trying to revive a cable community that had prolonged struggled to accomplish the heights of its 1990s heyday. The next calendar year, he was chosen for a greater role as president of young children and family members amusement for the blended ViacomCBS.

He will continue being in demand of the firm’s Nickelodeon Tv set empire when he requires the reins at Paramount, 1 of the men and women acquainted with the make any difference said.

Gianopulos joined Paramount in 2017 when Viacom was still separate from CBS. Viacom CEO Bob Bakish hired Gianopulos, who experienced earlier been pushed out of 20th Century Fox Movie soon after a very long run overseeing hits these kinds of as “Avatar” and “Deadpool.”

A respected government regarded for his corporate techniques, Gianopulos designed it his mission to revive Paramount. The studio experienced struggled for years under Viacom’s prior leaders, who prioritized belt tightening and share buybacks, and was acquiring difficulties competing at the box workplace with rivals such as Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros. that had greatly invested in movie franchises.

Considering that then, the studio — recognised for its mountain emblem, its famed gates on Melrose Avenue and common movies these types of as “The Godfather” — has weathered the merger of its mum or dad enterprise with CBS Corp., the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of streaming that has essentially altered the company of films.

Executives and brokers credited Gianopulos with improving Paramount’s filmmaker associations. The studio returned to profitability below his leadership. But his motivation to defend movies and filmmakers from company mandates to enhance the streaming business enterprise induced friction, folks common with the make any difference stated.

In distinction, Robbins is stated to be additional ready to embrace the digital revolution in Hollywood. Robbins is extensively credited with the success of “Paw Patrol: The Film,” based mostly on the Nickelodeon demonstrate of the similar identify, which drove sizeable indication-ups to Paramount+ when it just lately premiered on the platform at the same time as its theatrical launch.

Prior to the pandemic shut motion picture theaters, Paramount experienced a important achievements with “Sonic the Hedgehog,” a dwell-motion and pc animation hybrid based mostly on the common Sega movie activity. The Could release of “A Quiet Spot Aspect II” was a unusual box office environment hit for an field that experienced experienced persistently weak motion picture theater attendance as theaters attempted to reopen. Other hits unveiled beneath Gianopulos’ look at bundled the Elton John biopic “Rocketman” and the sixth “Mission: Impossible” motion picture.

Amid the continuing coronavirus crisis, Paramount delayed numerous of its largest motion pictures, like “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Extremely hard 7.” Paramount not long ago delayed the launch of the “Top Gun” sequel, with Tom Cruise reprising his guide purpose, from November till May possibly. “Snake Eyes,” a spinoff based mostly on a G.I. Joe villain, flopped in theaters when it was unveiled in July.

To deal with by way of the pandemic, Paramount marketed the Michael B. Jordan thriller “Without Remorse” and the Eddie Murphy sequel “Coming 2 America” to Amazon Primary.

ViacomCBS is creating a drive to contend in streaming with Paramount+, rebranded from CBS All Access previously this year. The support, which expenditures $5 a month for its ad-supported tier, boasted it would have 2,500 movies by the conclude of summer time, which includes Paramount classics and motion pictures from other studios.

Obtaining new movies at the exact time as theaters has been a big strengthen to WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, which put its whole 2021 film lineup on the service and in theaters concurrently and Disney+, which produced “Black Widow” and “Jungle Cruise” at the exact time as multiplexes for a $30 cost. Common Pictures’ “Halloween Kills” is likely to father or mother organization NBCUniversal’s Peacock and theaters at the similar time in October.

Robbins, whose marketing was very first noted by the Wall Road Journal, is explained to have been fascinated in the Paramount task for some time. His vocation, which spans Tv set, film directing and digital media, served make him a favored candidate within just ViacomCBS, which is controlled by Shari Redstone, the daughter of the late media mogul Sumner Redstone.

The Brooklyn indigenous commenced his career as a child actor in the 1980s, like in an ABC sitcom, “Head of the Course.” He directed films such as “Varsity Blues” and “Norbit” and produced youthful grownup reveals, like “Smallville,” “One Tree Hill” and “What I Like About You.”

In 2012, Robbins, with his creating partner Joe Davola, developed an on-line network called AwesomenessTV with activity reveals and sketch comedies to entice viewers who have been turning absent from Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central and gravitating toward YouTube.

AwesomenessTV transformed ownership multiple moments and confronted the exact worries as other businesses that emerged in the course of the small-lived increase of so-identified as multichannel networks. The enterprise was purchased by DreamWorks Animation, which was absorbed by Comcast Corp., which afterwards offered AwesomenessTV to Viacom.

However Robbins’ résumé includes various directing credits, a single factor it lacks is practical experience operating a key film studio. Whilst that would’ve as soon as been seen as a mark against him, in the present day streaming period, it may well have been an gain, in accordance to insiders.

Robbins is no stranger to Paramount. Right before he joined Nickelodeon, he was head of Paramount Players, a unit of the studio made to mine Viacom cable makes this sort of as MTV and Nickelodeon for movie projects.

People today who have labored with Robbins explain him as a modern and forward-thinking leisure executive, willing to try out new strategies of carrying out points and listening to employees’ thoughts.

When he was managing Paramount Players, for case in point, he championed an strategy to set a twist on the Mel Gibson film “What Ladies Want” through the Black amusement brand Guess. Robbins’ division took the concept and designed “What Men Want,” a revision of the idea from a Black female viewpoint, casting Taraji P. Henson and Tracy Morgan.