David Ellison of Skydance Media has purchased Paramount Global, resurrecting the merger from dead and ending the saga that’s gripped Hollywood for months – as long as the deal closes. Plus, CNN lays off 100 workers as it enters the digital era under a new chief, Mark Thompson, and Kevin Costner’s second Horizon film is shelved indefinitely. Kim Masters and Matt Belloni break down a whirlwind week in Tinseltown.
Does Horizon have a future? The first installment of Kevin Costner’s Horizon saga was released in June, with a lackluster rollout. Now the second, which was supposed to be released in August, is being pushed back indefinitely – and he’s already shooting the next film. “He went into production on the third movie before the first one came out,” says Belloni, “So he didn't know if there would be audience appetite for a third one. The fourth one — who knows what will happen.”
Pushing back the second movie is intended to give the audience more time to hop on the saga. It supposedly will get a theatrical release, but there is no set date on the… horizon.
CNN pivots to digital? CNN announced layoffs of 100 employees as part of a network overhaul by new chief Mark Thompson. Though most of CNN’s monetary gain comes from broadcast journalism, TV viewership numbers are on the decline for CNN and other broadcast channels. CNN is combining its TV and digital newsrooms, preparing a CNN product for streaming on MAX, and launching a digital subscription product. “I don't think that's the answer to the CNN problem, which is essentially that linear TV is going down and down and down. But at least they're doing something,” says Belloni.
Is the Paramount saga coming to a close? Though there’s always potential for the deal to go downhill in the final stretch, Paramount’s merger with Skydance seems to be coming to a close. Tech scion David Ellison is fashioning his role at the legacy studio as “the bridge between arts and technology,” says Belloni. “Paramount is a 100-year-old legacy studio and media company. Its entire business is threatened because it is a primarily linear television company. If he can reinvent this as a tech company, that is a tall order."