Paramount closes in on new distribution deal with Legendary
Paramount closes in on new distribution deal with Legendary
The deal will allow Paramount to distribute Legendary movies globally, both in theaters and via streaming.
The new ownership team at Paramount is clearly in deal-making mode. The company has already made a deal to acquire UFC rights in its short post-merger history, and now it appears poised to make a distribution deal with another well-known production house.
Key Details:
- Wait for it: Paramount is closing in on a global distribution deal with Legendary Entertainment.
- In cinemas and at home: The deal will reportedly have theatrical and streaming distribution components.
- Keep it casual: Legendary also has a deal in place with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Exclusive reporting from Deadline indicates that Legendary and Paramount are closing in on a global theatrical distribution deal, which will allow Paramount to distribute Legendary movies to cinemas worldwide, except in China. Co-financing is a possibility, but the titles under discussion for release are not yet known.
Deadline says that Paramount will have transactional and streaming windows as part of the deal, which means that any Legendary movie distributed by Paramount will stream on Paramount+ sooner or later. Paramount’s motion picture heads, Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg, are looking to boost the number of movies put in theaters by Paramount to as many as 20 per year.
Legendary doesn’t have any exclusive distribution partners, but it is quite cozy with Warner Bros. Discovery. That company is Legendary’s partner on Monsterverse movies, as well as the “Dune” franchise. The new deal with Paramount shouldn’t change any of these arrangements, or pull movies off of HBO Max to stream on Paramount+ in the near future.
Between this deal and the UFC agreement, Paramount’s new bosses are showing how aggressive they’re willing to be to get the company on the right track. With so many legacy media companies seeing major headwinds in the current environment, complacency can be a fatal problem. Whether these moves will work out for Paramount has yet to be seen, but the company cannot be accused of standing still, at least.
Legendary previously had a theatrical output deal with Sony, but that pact ended in December, which is why it’s on the hunt for a new partner. Now, it looks to be closing in on its choice.
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