Brian Robbins Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Nickelodeon’s Shauna Phelan and Zack Olin have been promoted to EVPs and Co-Heads, Nickelodeon and Awesomeness Live-Action Series and Films. The news was announced today by Brian Robbins, Paramount President & Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon, and Chief Content Officer, Movies and Kids & Family, Paramount+.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentPart of what it describes as a bold and rapid expansion of its long-form animation department, London-based Oscar winning Passion Pictures has appointed Nicki Cortese as head of development for animated features and series.Cortese joins Pixar veteran David Park, a production manager on “Coco” and animation department manager on “Toy Story 3,” who was himself hired as Passion head of production for long-form animation in 2021, as well as executive producer Debbie Crosscup.Joining Passion ahead of Annecy, Cortese served as head of development for Elisabeth Murdoch’s Locksmith Animation, where she worked on Disney’s “Ron’s Gone Wrong” as well as the just-announced Netflix feature “That Christmas,” based on children’s books by “Four Weddings and a Funeral’s ”Richard Curtis. Cortese had a first-look deal with Brian Robbins’ studio, Awesomeness Films, and, prior to that, oversaw the “Divergent”franchise at Red Wagon.

The Motion Picture & Television Fund on Friday said it will continue its yearlong centennial celebration with “100 Years of Hollywood: A Celebration of Service,” an event June 18 in West Hollywood that will feature musical performances and tributes. Jodie Foster, Harry Northup, Yvette Nicole Brown and more are set to appear at the event at The Lot at Formosa, along with musical guests set to include Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, Tori Kelly, and Chloe Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaParamount has been on a sizzling run.All five of its 2022 releases, a crop that includes “Scream,” “Jackass Forever,” “The Lost City” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” opened in first place at the domestic box office, with “Top Gun: Maverick” outpacing them all. The sequel to the beloved Tom Cruise film has scored with critics and audiences alike.

Asked today about streamers that fawned for Top Gun: Maverick during the pandemic when cinemas were closed, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said there were no other options. It was always a big screen destination.

Zack Sharf “Top Gun: Maverick” blasted off at CinemaCon, where Paramount Pictures held the tentpole’s first public screening and generated rave first reactions. Journalists in attendance are hailing the long-awaited “Top Gun” sequel as “the perfect blockbuster” and “terrific in every conceivable way.” The film will screen at the Cannes Film Festival in May before Paramount releases it in theaters over Memorial Day weekend.Paramount Pictures president Brian Robbins introduced the CinemaCon screening of the film and said star Tom Cruise has earned his reputation as the most daring actor in Hollywood.

In the switch-off between Paramount studio chief Jim Gianopulos to Brian Robbins, it was buzzed that the studio was on the verge of completely giving into theatrical day-and-date as it looked to fuel its streaming service Paramount+.

Naman Ramachandran Pam Kaufman will take on the role of president, consumer products and experiences, effective immediately, at Paramount Global. In addition to leading the consumer products business representing over $5.5 billion in worldwide retail revenue, Kaufman will now have oversight across the Paramount global portfolio of live experiences including hotels, resorts, theme parks, tours, and Broadway, as well as VidCon and gaming.

EXCLUSIVE: Rahart Adams (Pacific Rim: Uprising) is set as a lead in the CW’s DC Comics-based pilot Gotham Knights.

Wilson Chapman editorAndrew Gumpert, the chief operating officer of Paramount Pictures, will expand his duties to additionally serve as the COO of Nickelodeon Studios.The news was announced by Paramount Pictures president and chief executive officer Brian Robbins on Monday, via an internal memo sent to employees. The news is another major move toward consolidating Paramount and Nickelodeon’s leadership, after Robbins was tapped to serve as president this past September.

Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins has just made it effective that the studio’s COO Andrew Gumpert will be taking on the additional oversee of Nickelodeon Studios.

Mission: Impossible 8 has now begun filming, according to reports.According to The Hollywood Reporter, the next instalment of the M:I series is now underway, months after work on the seventh film concluded.The Hollywood Reporter also said that while M:I7 is as still unfinished, work on the next instalment began after Cruise “persuaded Brian Robbins, the new president and CEO of Paramount Pictures, to give him more money to finish the seventh film and make the eighth.”It also reported that the budget for M:I7 has now hit $290million (£219million).Back in January, it was announced that the release date of Mission: Impossible 7 has been delayed once again due to continuing concerns around COVID.Last September, the seventh film in Tom Cruise’s franchise was pushed back to September 30, 2022, four months after its original slated release on May 27, 2022.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterParamount Pictures is calling home its speciality label Paramount Players, folding the lower-budget and genre operation under the stewardship of the studio’s larger motion picture group. As a result of the decision, current Paramount Players chief Jeremy Kramer is exiting his post.Paramount motion picture group co-heads Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland will run point on the unit moving forward.

Paramount Players is getting merged under Paramount Motion Picture Group Co-Heads Mike Ireland and Daria Cercek.

There’s another Star Trek on the way!

There’s so much Spongebob Squarepants coming to us!

Paramount+ unveiled robust plans Tuesday for three of its most highly profitable franchises, setting the table for a series of films derived from “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” and “Transformers.”“As we’ve known with Nickelodeon’s long-standing success, the kids and family audience is incredibly loyal, and we see that on Paramount+ as well, with kids and family ranking as one of the strongest genres on the service in terms of both engagement and subscriber acquisition,” Brian Robbins, Paramount+ chief content officer for movies and kids & family, said in a statement as part of the streamer’s investors day presentation. “So as they stay for our shows and look for even more of them, we’re doubling down on giving them what they want by expanding the universes of the characters they love the best.”Among the projects are three new movies set in the “SpongeBob SquarePants” universe, based on the original characters, that are set to come to Paramount+.

EXCLUSIVE: After several fits and starts, the next Star Trek film is gearing up to begin production by year’s end. Paramount has begun talks with Chris Pine to reprise as James T. Kirk, and the intention is to engage to bring back aboard Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Uhura, Karl Urban as Dr. Bones McCoy, John Cho as Sulu and Simon Pegg as Scotty. Deadline revealed last summer that Paramount and producer JJ Abrams hired Matt Shakman to direct, fresh from the triumph of the Marvel/Disney+ series WandaVision, just after the series was nominated for 23 Emmys. Shakman has been supervising a draft by Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires, based off a draft by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterParamount Plus is mining even more Nickelodeon content to fill out its content slate.The streamer announced a slew of new projects that will be produced by Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon Animation as part of the ViacomCBS investor day presentation on Feb. 15.

Paramount+, the ViacomCBS streaming service, has unveiled a new slate of original kids and family programming, including a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CG-animated movie series, and a Transformers: Earthspark animated series, among others. The announcements were made Tuesday by Brian Robbins, Chief Content Officer, Movies and Kids & Family for Paramount+, during the ViacomCBS’ Investors Event.

EXCLUSIVE: Even though the second film doesn’t bow till the spring, Paramount Pictures and Sega Corporation are moving fast to build on its ever growing universe with projects in both the film and TV realms. Paramount Pictures and Sega Corporation have commenced development on a third feature film installment to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Additionally, Sega and Paramount+ are developing the first-ever original live-action Sonic series, to launch in 2023, which will feature the character Knuckles, with Idris Elba returning to voice the role. The character is set to make its debut in the upcoming sequel that bows on April 8.

ViacomCBS is further expanding its Dora The Explorer universe. Paramount+ has given a series order to a new Dora the Explorer CG-animated preschool series, produced by Nickelodeon Animation. Additionally, the first-ever live-action Dora the Explorer series, inspired by the tone of Paramount Pictures’ 2019 film Dora and the Lost City of Gold, is shifting its demo target to tweens. The details were revealed Tuesday by Brian Robbins, Chief Content Officer, Movies and Kids & Family for Paramount+, during ViacomCBS’ Investors Day Event.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorNickelodeon is taking a new swing at mixing professional sports with its young audiences.After broadcasting two NFL Wild Card games aimed at kids in the past two football seasons, the ViacomCBS outlet will next tackle golf. Nickelodeon plans to air a new one-hour special, “Nickelodeon Slime Cup,” that sets four teams of three against each other on a “Nick-ified” golf course with one-of-kind tee boxes, physical challenges, and far-out fairways.

Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins has announced that the studio’s 27-year vet and Nickelodeon consultant Lee Rosenthal has been appointed to the newly-created role of President, Worldwide Physical Production, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios as the conglom looks to optimize and strategically align across both studios.

Grammy-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar, Dave Free and South Park co-creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have signed on to produce an untitled, live-action comedy for Paramount Pictures.

Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is expected to cede its No. 1 four-weekend run to Paramount and Spyglass Media’s Scream over the MLK four-day holiday, the latter eyeing a take that’s in the $20 million-plus range at 3,661 theaters.

I have always been a sucker for comeback stories, especially at a time like this when careers veer dramatically between triumph and cancellation – though some comebacks may raise questions (see below).

The reorg comes less than two months after Brian Robbins replaced Jim Gianopulos as the CEO of Paramount, with Weinstock’s promotion to the top marketing spot soon following. Among the branches being integrated into the division are digital marketing, brand marketing & strategy, and data analytics, all of which will now report to Danielle DePalma, EVP Global Marketing.

Following the news of Marc Weinstock’s new oversee of a unified global marketing and distribution team at Paramount as President of Worldwide Marketing & Distribution, we’ve received news this morning that a re-organization of both departments are occurring as the studio looks to meet consumers’ accelerated demands for content in a continued pandemic world. In total, I understand 44 jobs were cut around the globe between both departments.

As part of ongoing changes at the corporate level at Paramount Pictures, Marc Weinstock will now lead a unified global marketing and distribution group, with co-president Mary Daily exiting the studio. Paramount has also tapped Pam Kaufman, current president of Global Consumer Products for ViacomCBS, to lead an expanded Themed Entertainment Group and report jointly to president and CEO Brian Robbins and to Raffaele Annecchino, president and CEO, ViacomCBS Networks International.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterA restructure of the Paramount Pictures marketing and distribution team will see co-president Mary Daily exit the studio and Marc Weinstock elevated to run a unified global team.Incoming Paramount Pictures chairman and CEO Brian Robbins announced the changes on Monday, a memo obtained by Variety said.Additionally, the president of global consumer products for ViacomCBS, Pam Kaufman, has expanded her job duties to include oversight of Paramount’s themed

Paramount has made official what has been buzzing around town since Sunday and that’s former Universal SVP Global Communications Jenny Tartikoff is taking the reins as the Melrose Ave. lot’s new EVP Global Communications in the wake of Brian Robbins being promoted to CEO of the studio. Tartikoff starts on Nov. 15 and will report directly to Robbins.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterParamount Pictures has appointed Jenny Tartikoff as executive VP of global communications.She is replacing Chris Petrikin, who recently stepped down from his role as executive VP of global communication and corporate branding at Paramount Pictures. The reshuffling comes on the heels of the news that Nickelodeon president Brian Robbins is overtaking Jim Gianopulos as president and CEO of Paramount Pictures.Tartikoff begins in her role on Nov.

In one of Brian Robbins’ first major moves as Paramount Pictures President and CEO, he has brought in one of his top lieutenants at Nickelodeon, Ramsey Naito, to lead the film studio’s animation division in addition to her current duties as President of Nickelodeon Animation.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterParamount Pictures has parted ways with animation president Mireille Soria. In a promotion, Nickelodeon’s Ramsey Naito has added oversight of the label to her purview.Soria’s exit comes as a continuing reorganization of Paramount Pictures by new chairman and CEO Brian Robbins, who replaced Jim Gianopulos in early September.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterA “game of chicken” is commonly known as a conflict between two parties where neither wants to yield, but both are hoping to avoid embarrassment and failure.That seems to be the pervading psychological dynamic right now at Paramount Pictures, as it continues to topple its legacy leadership structure in favor of a streaming-first future under new studio chief Brian Robbins.“We’re all playing chicken right now,” one insider told Variety, explaining that studio