If you frequent this blog, you’ve probably read up on Walter Elias Disney, Michael Eisner, and Bob Iger and know some interesting stories about those men and their personalities. Portfolio.com has a long and interesting piece by Lloyd Grove on Sumner Redstone, the octogenarian who… Read More »Sumner Redstone Profile
A couple years back, Sumner Redstone’s National Amusements split Viacom (parent company of Paramount Pictures) from CBS. Now it looks like Viacom and CBS will compete in one more area. Kenneth LiMon reports for Reuters/Nielsen. Sumner Redstone’s Viacom Inc will launch a premium TV and… Read More »Viacom Takes the Lead in Planning a New Pay TV Channel
Blu-ray’s victory in getting Warner Brothers to drop the HD-DVD may not be enough to fend off obsolescence. As Dawn C. Chmielewski reports in the Los Angeles Times, downloads, cable, and satellite delivery of HD movies might make the whole HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray battle moot anyway. But sales of these next-generation discs fell short of… Read More »Is Blu-ray Victory Too Late?
At one time, the summer 2009 movie season was scheduled to kickoff with two high-profile 3-D films competing over the growing, but limited number of 3-D screens, until one moved to an earlier release. Now, the showdown will be averted altogether. Leslie Simmons reports. James… Read More »Cameron’s “Avatar” Pushed Back to December 2009
And March will get a boost a big movie month. Josh Friedman reports in the Los Angeles Times that DreamWorks Animation, which has its films distributed by Viacom’s Paramount, is moving the release of "Monsters vs. Aliens" up to March 27, 2009 to give it some time on the limted number of 3-D screens before… Read More »May 2009 3-D Film War Averted
Thomas S. Mulligan reports in the Los Angeles Times that… Nickelodeon is teaming up with Marriott International Inc. on a chain of kid-friendly resort hotels that will feature elaborate water parks and live entertainment from SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and other stars of the cable TV channel. Look’s like Walt’s revolution continues. The first… Read More »Nickelodeon and Marriott, Sitting in a Tree
Predictably, the cinema companies are not so hot on Comcast’s idea of premiering movies on their cable system simultaneous to their cinema premieres. More surprisingly, though, Disney CEO Bob Iger, who has speculated about multi-platform releases before, expressed opposition to the idea, and now Viacom (Paramount, Dreamworks, MTV, etc.) has also expressed opposition. Viacom Inc.… Read More »Update on Comcast’s Idea to Deliver New Movies Along With Cinemas
Last year, after the Viacom/CBS split, Paramount Parks was sold to Cedar Fair, which also owns the Knott’s theme park properties. Since then, it was announced that the formerly-Knott’s-like Camp Snoopy-thened theme park at the Mall of America, which has lost that theme, would gain a new theme – Spongebob Squarepants, a Viacom property. Now… Read More »Paramount & Theme Parks – Another Chapter?