ViacomCBS, emboldened by a successful first quarter, is going all-in with Paramount+ and bypassing a theatrical release for the upcoming sci-fi thriller “Infinite.” The company is also promising a ton of new content for their new platform with their “Mountain of Movies” campaign alongside the announcement that they plan to debut a new film every week starting in 2022.
“Infinite” is directed by Antoine Fuqua and stars Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend, Toby Jones and Dylan O’Brien. Based on author D. Eric Maikranz’s novel “The Reincarnationist Papers,” the movie was scheduled for released in August of 2020. Needless to say, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a monkey wrench into those plans and the film was pushed to September 24th of this year for theatrical release.
“Infinite” will now debut on Paramount+ this June, completely forgoing a theatrical run.
The strategy is one we have seen time and again over the last year as production companies look for ways to both ensure a return on big-budget pictures previously destined for the cinemas and fatten up the content on their streaming platforms at the same time. Disney+ moved notable titles like “Black Widow,” “Soul,” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” to their platform absent fully open movie theaters, albeit with a premium charge for their trouble, and HBO Max had the honor of debuting all of Warner Bros.' planned 2021 releases on their platform.
Both platforms have done very well, with the Warner Bros. deal undoubtedly contributing to HBO Max's big earnings gain early this year. With that particular arrangement set to expire in 2022, Paramount+ might just find its timing to be right on if HBO Max subscribers who came on board looking for tentpole feature films don’t find enough content to stick around for.
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish crowed about the upcoming expansion of Paramount+’s film catalog this summer.
According to Bakish, the company “will shortly kick off a ‘Mountain of Movies’ marketing campaign, where we will highlight the thousands of new movies we are adding to Paramount+, including blockbuster hits and exclusive originals.”
Bakish says that 1,000 additional movies will appear on Paramount+ in early June, “with additional titles following through July, bringing the total to over 2,500.” He added: “Hits like ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Skyfall’ will be available on the service soon, as well as a bunch of great Paramount films like ‘Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,’ ‘Rocketman,’ ‘Sonic the Hedgehog,’ and more.”
John Krasinki’s “A Quiet Place Part II” will find a home on Paramount+ 45 days after its theatrical debut. Other exciting upcoming features set to appear by the end of 2021 are the family-friend “Paw Patrol: The Movie,” and the upcoming next installment of “Paranormal Activity.”
Bakish is optimistic about next year’s plans, saying “all of this is a preview to a substantial ramping up of original movies next year, when we expect to begin averaging an original movie a week in 2022.”