“Mission: Impossible 7,” “A Quiet Place Part II” and more future Paramount Pictures releases will be available for home viewing sooner than expected.
These films will debut exclusively in theaters as planned. However, the studio has recently reduced the amount of time they will play exclusively on the big screen. After 45 days, new Paramount motion pictures will arrive on the emerging Paramount Plus streaming service. Currently, “Mission: Impossible 7” is scheduled to be released in theaters on November 17 and “A Quiet Place Part II” is scheduled for September 17.
The announcement was made during ViacomCBS investor day on Wednesday. The presentation was orchestrated to stimulate Paramount Plus, which will be launched on March 4. The platform, a redesign and expansion of CBS All Access, will have to compete with an excess of streaming service offerings, including Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Disney Plus and Apple TV Plus.
As part of the deal, Paramount adjusted its pay-TV production deal with Epix to reinforce movie offerings. Along with the new releases, Paramount Plus will offer a vast library of over 2,500 films.
Before the pandemic, cinema operators insisted that films should be shown in theaters for 90 days before studios could offer them for home entertainment. But closing cinemas for a year has changed traditional ways of doing business. Several Hollywood studios have used this as an opportunity to change the theater window, although Paramount’s strategy can be welcomed more favorably among film exhibitors.
That’s because 45 days seems totally generous compared to Warner Bros., which is launching its entire 2021 theatrical trajectory on HBO Max on the same day that the films are released in theaters. Meanwhile, Universal has forged its own model, which allows the studio to display its films on premium video on demand platforms after 17 days in theaters.
To stay afloat for the past 12 months, Paramount has sold several titles, such as “The Trial of the Chicago 7”, “Coming 2 America” and “Without Remorse,” to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Still, the studio has always planned to keep its biggest properties, “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun” included, exclusively in theaters.
During Wednesday’s presentation, Paramount studio chief Jim Gianopulos reaffirmed the company’s commitment to theatrical releases. In a post-pandemic world, Paramount will look at a 30-day theater window for most titles and 45 days for tents like “Top Gun: Maverick”.