Paramount Was Hollywood’s ‘Mountain.’ Now It’s a Molehill.

NYT ^ | 1/17/2019 | Amy Chozick and Brooks Barnes

[Borges]

It was a legendary Hollywood battle, one filled with so much back-stabbing and subterfuge that Vanity Fair likened it to a horror movie: “‘Wall Street’ as directed by Hitchcock.”

For months starting in the fall of 1993, two media titans, Sumner M. Redstone and Barry Diller, fought each other for what was then the entertainment industry’s ultimate prize: Paramount Pictures, the 62-acre studio behind classic films like “The Godfather” and “Chinatown” and contemporary blockbusters like “Top Gun” and “Beverly Hills Cop.”

[Borges]

Quite an account of corporate machinations for those who like that sort of thing.

[Borges]

You may enjoy this.

[BookmanTheJanitor]

But the bustle is mostly an illusion. Few movies are shot in Los Angeles anymore, by Paramount or any studio. Of the 100 top-grossing films in 2017, only 10 were shot in California, according to Film L.A., which tracks production. It’s cheaper to make movies in states like New Mexico and Georgia, which offer fat subsidies

Guess they don’t like all those taxes that they vote for and promote...

[poinq]

Wow, is this old news. Paramount was nothing but a distributor in the the 1980s. Films Inc. bought them for a song. So its true they were big in the 50s, its been a long and rocky road down hill for this company. And they have been at the bottom before.

[pepsi_junkie]

In the months ahead, Paramount is betting big on drugs, gay sex and rock ’n’ roll

I don't know if a reality movie about the Hollywood community will save the studio

[discostu]

They all fall down at some point. Every major Hollywood studio has at least one “about to go under” story. It’s the way of the business, studios get fatter and slower and the business favors lean and quick.

[RayChuang88]

A reason why Disney prospers is their theme parks and MASSIVELY profitable intellectual property through the cartoon characters the company created. That's why they were able to buy Marvel Entertainment and Lucasfilm.

[montag813]

Paramount never the same since Brad Grey’s demise at age 59.

[irishjuggler]

classic films like “The Godfather” and “Chinatown” and contemporary blockbusters like “Top Gun” and “Beverly Hills Cop.”

What a stupid sentence. The "classic films" from 45 years ago versus the "contemporary" ones from, er, 35 years ago?!

[Borges]

I bet the writers are Gen Xers. Those 80s films feel contemporary to them.

[irishjuggler]

Was thinking the same. Babies when the first two came out and saw the latter two as teens.