Paramount+ will debut next week on March 4, kicking off a new strategy to bring movies from the theater to your living room a lot sooner.
Parent company ViacomCBS announced on Wednesday that two of its upcoming releases, “Mission Impossible 7” and “A Quiet Place II” will premiere on Paramount+ after a 45-day theatrical release.
Paramount is aiming to have a shorter amount of time with movies appearing in theaters so they can be quickly ushered onto its streaming service. ViacomCBS plans to have a 30-day window for most new movies and a 45-day time frame for anticipated blockbusters, including “Top Gun: Maverick.”
Paramount+ will also retain the exclusive streaming rights to the movie “Paw Patrol”, based on the popular Nickelodeon TV series of the same name. That movie is set to be released in theaters on Aug. 20.
Narrowing the period of time between theater releases and streaming is being adopted by a number of companies that also own movie studios. Warner Bros. is releasing all of its 2021 films simultaneously on HBO Max and theaters. Universal is currently using a hybrid model, giving its films a 17 day theatrical premiere before becoming available as a premium on-demand movie.
Lower price, but no more local CBS for new subscribers
Paramount+ will lower its ad-supported plan to $4.99 sometime this summer. That’s a dollar cheaper than what current CBS All Access subscribers are paying for an entry-level plan. Paramount Plus premium, the no-ads plan, will remain the same price: $9.99 per month.
The new $5 per-month plan will have live sports including NFL games and the PGA Tour. But new subscribers to Paramount+ will no longer have a live, local CBS feed in the $5 plan.
Existing CBS All Access subscribers that keep their subscriptions will not lose the live CBS feed when their service becomes Paramount Plus.
Even without the live local channel, executives who briefed investors on Wednesday said that the new streaming service will have a larger menu of live sports, news and original series than what’s currently on CBS All Access.
Movie library
Paramount Plus is expected to have 2,500 movie titles available to subscribers by the summer. The library will include Paramount’s own films and ones from other studios such as MGM, Miramax, Lionsgate and Sony. ViacomCBS also announced a new deal with EPIX that will bring thousands of movie titles to Paramount+ in the coming months.
Sports and Originals
Paramount released a slate of upcoming Paramount+ Original Series. All originals will be in 4K with HDR and Dolby Vision support.
The new releases include a pair of “Yellowstone” spinoffs “Y:1883” and another with the working title of “6666.”
“The Mayor of Kingstown” will star Jeremy Renner, and chronicles a family of power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan where corruption, injustice and racism are carried out for profit. “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” will cover the decade before Captain Kirk took over the U.S.S. Enterprise. The new series will be based on Captain Christopher Pike’s adventures with Science Officer Spock.
Paramount+ will maintain its existing libraries for BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV and Smithsonian Channel.
More than 1,000 live sporting events including NFL games, NCAA March Madness, and the PGA Tour. The service will also expand its men’s and women’s soccer coverage, including UEFA Champions Leage and EuropaLeague.
Are there any discounts for Paramount Plus?
ViacomCBS is offering a 50 percent discount to subscribers who sign up for the CBS All Access annual plan. The deal expires on March 3, and covers the first 12 months of a subscription.
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Founder and Editor of The Cord Cutting Report. Before launching the site in 2016, he worked for more than two decades as a staff writer or correspondent for a number of daily newspapers, including The Boston Globe. His enthusiasm for tech began with the Atari 2600. Follow @james_kimble
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