Entering the streaming wars when the competition is already so intense can be a dangerous game, as Jeffrey Katzenberg discovered when he raised $1.75 billion to fund Quibi, only to see it closed down after eight months before selling the entire content library to Roku for less than $100 million in January.
Paramount are the latest studio to throw their hat into the ring, as CBS All Access rebrands into Paramount+. The company has already pulled the long-awaited Halo TV show from Showtime to position it as the marquee series on the upstart platform, but with HBO Max debuting all of Warner Bros.’ major 2021 releases the same day they hit theaters, the rest of the competition needs to deliver top quality feature film content to draw in as many subscribers as possible.
To that end, it’s been announced that Mission: Impossible 7 and A Quiet Place Part II are both heading to Paramount+ after playing in theaters for just 45 days, as the window between the big screen and video on demand continues to narrow during the COVID-19 era. The previous installments in both franchises made $791 million and $341 million respectively at the box office, so the studio could be leaving an awful lot of money in the table by debuting them on streaming a little over six weeks after they premiere.
Of course, Paramount have sold off a huge number of titles over the last year to offset losses from the Coronavirus pandemic, but having refused to sell Top Gun: Maverick to streamers, the boardroom is clearly keen to retain ownership of their biggest brands, and now we know why. After all, it’s a smart move to drum up some extra business by dropping a pair of hotly anticipated and delayed sequels onto streaming after 45 days, with Mission: Impossible 7 in particular capable of causing a huge spike in interest for Paramount+.