Just days after the Skydance-Paramount merger closed on 7 August 2025, new studio co-chairs Josh Greenstein and Dana Goldberg have wasted no time in making a statement. Their first big move: closing a deal for the Timothée Chalamet–James Mangold package High Side, which Deadline first reported.
The message was clear: ‘Paramount 2.0’ will not be cutting back, but rather ramping up. That energy carried into a Los Angeles press conference for the newly restructured studio, where Paramount CEO David Ellison declared, “One of our biggest priorities is restoring Paramount as the No. 1 studio for filmmakers and talent in the world. Great filmmakers make great movies. For us, we’re going to strategically scale the amount of content for our streaming service as well as studios.”
AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron was equally upbeat on his own earnings call, noting, “It appears to us that Skydance is cash-rich, and it would be our expectation that Skydance will be releasing more movies coming out of Paramount than Paramount has been releasing in recent years.”
Greenstein confirmed plans to reach 15 movies a year as soon as possible, with a longer-term goal of 20 annually. Goldberg said the priorities include “four-quadrant family movies and R-rated comedies.”
Franchise building is clearly top of mind. With the US$2.6 billion global haul of 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick still fresh, half-financed by Skydance, the push for Top Gun 3 is inevitable. “Top Gun is a priority for us,” said Goldberg, though no official announcement has been made. The Ring’s Ehren Krueger began work on the script in 2023, and with Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible obligations wrapped, progress may accelerate.
Another tentpole title, Star Trek, also tops the list. One film in development will feature brand-new characters, directed by Andor’s Toby Haynes, with Seth Grahame-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie) writing and Simon Kinberg (The Martian) and J.J. Abrams, known for his prolific work on both the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises, producing. Meanwhile, another upcoming project will bring back Captain Kirk, Spock, and the original crew, with Abrams producing and Steve Yockey penning the script.
On the Transformers front, the next steps include reviewing three scripts already in development, one of which is rumoured to involve Michael Bay’s (Transformers: The Last Knight) return, following the 2023 release of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and 2024’s animated Transformers One.
Other high-profile titles on the slate include a summer 2027 return for A Quiet Place Part III, a prospective 17 September 2027 release of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem sequel, the live-action TMNT project, and original projects like Winter Games, Sam & Victor’s Day Off, and What Kids Want.
Skydance’s own development slate, ranging from The Rescue to a Mike Hammer adaptation led by Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar), is also expected to move forward under the Paramount banner.
With deep-pocketed ownership, a strengthened franchise roster, and a clear mandate from Ellison and his team, the new Paramount is positioning itself as a powerhouse contender once again.
Conversation with Ting Wei is like chatting with a weird AI bot programmed only with One Piece lore and theories, sitcom quotes and other miscellaneous pop culture references. When he’s not sleeping, he’s highly likely reading manga. In fact, the only thing he reads more than manga is the Bible, and it’s honestly pretty close.
Kevin Low
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