Paramount+ Will Get an Original Film Weekly
It’s no secret that ViacomCBS has big plans for Paramount+, and now The Hollywood Reporter claims the streamer will launch an original film weekly starting in 2022.
In other words, high profile flicks like the Mark Wahlberg sci-fi film Infinite will hit the Paramount+ service directly next month, bypassing a theatrical release. Other direct-to-streaming titles include Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II and films from the Paramount Players division and brands like Nickelodeon, Awesomeness, and MTV Entertainment.
Paramount’s direct-to-streaming strategy
ViacomCBS expects “a substantial ramping up” of original movies next year when it expects to “begin averaging an original movie a week in 2022,” CEO Bob Bakish said on a recent earnings conference call.
“Frankly, there are not that many movies on Paramount+ today,” he continued.
Among the releases will be “short-window pay 1” projects, he added.
Paramount+ will need all the help it can get as it fights for your attention and time with established streaming services. Due to the COVID pandemic and lockdowns, major Hollywood studios have opted to send their latest movies straight to streaming.
Warner Bros, for instance, is premiering all of its theatrical releases in 2021 simultaneously on HBO Max. However, the studio is planning a return to theater-first releases in 2022 while a return to an initial theatrical-only release model is in the works for 2023.
Paramount+ Pricing and Availability
Rebranded from CBS All Access, Paramount+ is available in the US, some parts of Latin America, Canada, and the Nordics, with a launch in Australia and New Zealand scheduled for later this year. Paramount+ carries all the content that lived on the CBS All Access streaming service, plus a bunch of exclusive programming like a Rugrats and Fraiser revival.
Paramount+ costs $9.99/month without ads or $5.99/month with ads, with the latter tier dropping to $4.99 in June. In the summer, an additional 1,000 movies will hit the platform. Among the arrivals will be hits like The Avengers and Skyfall, plus Paramount originals such as Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Rocketman, Sonic the Hedgehog, and more.
Available on iOS, Android, Chromecast, Roku, Fire TV, and Smart TVs, Paramount+ is priced at $9.99/month without ads or $5.99/month with ads. To make the offering even more enticing, Paramount+ will be dropping the latter tier to $4.99 in June 2021.
You can sign up on the Paramount+ website.
