{"id":327869,"date":"2025-12-04T19:55:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/327869\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T19:55:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T19:55:10","slug":"inside-plans-for-ninja-turtles-south-park-duos-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/327869\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Plans for Ninja Turtles, South Park Duo’s Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn the days before the Paramount<\/a>-Skydance merger closed, headlines as to who was staying and who was going were flying fast and furious. One person who appeared to be held in high esteem by Skydance chief David Ellison<\/a> was Ramsey Naito, head of Paramount Animation.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt would have been understandable if Ellison opted to show Naito the door as he did with other top execs, considering she was closely aligned with former Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins (she had helped bring the successful Nickelodeon\u00a0series PAW Patrol to the big screen). On Aug.\u00a06, the night before the merger became official, an anonymously sourced news story indicated that Naito was safe, highlighting the success of 2023\u2019s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which grossed $182\u00a0million worldwide against a $30\u00a0million budget and propelled the brand to north of $1\u00a0billion in merchandising sales.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut things quickly turned for Naito as the emboldened top executives installed by Ellison to run the studio began asserting their power. In a fall meeting with key leaders, including Paramount Pictures co-chairman Josh Greenstein, Naito was left feeling humiliated after she was told she had devalued the Turtles franchise. Sources say Naito later confronted Greenstein and others to object to the way they had spoken to her.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe essence of their response? \u201cGet over it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was an echo of the feelings-don\u2019t-matter, no-coddling ethos that powers Silicon Valley, where Ellison was raised and watched his father, Larry Ellison, grow Oracle into one of the most valuable companies in the world (and make himself one of the richest people on the planet). Multiple sources say Ellison is building a more brash culture that\u2019s defiantly upending the circumspect, politically correct style that has defined Hollywood in the post-#MeToo, post-George Floyd eras. It\u2019s a studio reborn, where blunt feedback is the norm, canceled talent is welcome (cheaper on the dollar, and yearning to prove themselves) and no one is walking on eggshells.<\/p>\n

\n\tSources close to the new regime deny that anyone ever spoke down to Naito, but acknowledge that they confronted the exec for declining to take responsibility for the fact that several animated films under her watch had gone over budget, including Smurfs, a bomb that lost about $80\u00a0million for the studio. In either case, sources say that Naito saw the writing on the wall and told friends she wasn\u2019t sure how long she\u2019d last under the new management. On Oct.\u00a029, she was among those let go <\/a>in a massive round of layoffs. Naito could not be reached for comment. She was replaced recently by Jennifer Dodge, president of entertainment at Spin Master, the toy company behind PAW Patrol.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrom left: Josh Greenstein, Dana Goldberg, Jeff Shell, David Ellison, Josh Goldstine, Don Granger and Jennifer Dodge. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJon Kopaloff\/Getty Images; Bryan Bedder\/Getty Images; Getty Images; Frazer Harrison\/Getty Images (2); Rich Polk\/Getty Images; Tommaso Boddi\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tEven before Ellison took over, there were signs that the studio was changing. Paramount was among the first to kill its DEI policies, and after the Ellison era began, it became the first to publicly push back against the growing anti-Israel sentiment in Hollywood. Ellison also has been willing to empower once-canceled male execs as well as those who are eager to assert their influence after being denied top jobs at other companies.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere is an arrogance [at the film studio] that has caught the town by the surprise,\u201d says one source who\u2019s in business with Paramount, careful to note that co-movie studio chairman and TV chief Dana Goldberg, a Skydance alum, and Paramount president Jeff Shell do not share this style.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat some see as arrogance, others characterize as a much-needed shift, remaking a struggling studio that was deprived of resources for years. The execs inherited a slate where every movie this year lost money in its theatrical run until the October romantic sleeper hit Regretting You. (That list includes the Ellison-produced Mission: Impossible \u2014 The Final Reckoning.)<\/p>\n

\n\tSays a source who knows many of Paramount\u2019s new power players: \u201cThey have either been in the studio system or adjacent to it and are now in a position they never thought they\u2019d have again. It\u2019s really theirs to lose; they can either build something that works or doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSources who know Ellison, 42, say that he personally has never presented as a bully, but father Larry is a self-avowed \u00fcber-alpha personality who has a multibillion-dollar stake in the Paramount purchase and is one of Donald Trump\u2019s closest tech-world confidants. Trump has publicly praised the Skydance-Paramount marriage and David Ellison, pointing to right-leaning changes at CBS News, and is reportedly also looking favorably upon Ellison\u2019s bid to gobble up Warner Bros. over rivals Comcast and Netflix. (Paramount, for its part, has called the bidding<\/a> \u201ca tilted and unfair process,\u201d claiming Netflix has received preferential treatment.) On Nov.\u00a025, Paramount confirmed a deal to distribute Rush Hour 4 from disgraced director Brett Ratner, who was banished from Hollywood in 2017 after a Los Angeles Times report in which six women accused him of sexual misconduct. The agreement came after a request from Trump to Larry. (Ratner was never charged and has long denied wrongdoing.)<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the Rush Hour 4 news jolted many on the lot, sources say that even before Trump\u2019s request, there were already conversations within Paramount about whether to distribute the orphaned project. The movie would almost certainly make money for the studio given that Paramount, as a distributor but not a financier, stands to receive a hefty fee. Still, Greenstein and Goldberg ultimately passed and only later learned that Paramount would be distributing it around the time news leaked to the media about Trump\u2019s overtures to Larry. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDonald Trump (left) reportedly pressured Larry Ellison (right) for Paramount to distribute Rush Hour 4, directed by Brett Ratner, the disgraced filmmaker working on a Melania Trump documentary at Amazon.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAndrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDavid likes to hire people who he thinks were devalued,\u201d says one person who has known him for years. One early example: Skydance swooped in and hired legendary Pixar chief John Lasseter after he resigned from Disney at the height of the #MeToo movement following allegations of inappropriate behavior. Later, the first major production deal announced by the new Paramount was a first-look pact with Will Smith, still tainted from slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars. And one of the few leftover movies from the previous regime that Team Ellison embraced is an Ebenezer Scrooge project starring Johnny Depp that would mark the actor\u2019s first major studio feature since Warner Bros. fired him from the Fantastic Beasts franchise in 2020 amid his messy divorce from Amber Heard.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere are examples of that same distressed-asset philosophy at the C-suite level. Shell, the president of Paramount, exited as chairman of NBCUniversal after a female colleague, a CNBC reporter, filed a sexual harassment complaint against him following a nearly decade-long affair. He was fired for cause and did not receive severance. Paramount colleagues say Shell is transparent about what happened, proactively bringing it up and eager to note that he\u2019s learned from his mistakes. (Like Ellison, he is laser-focused on the potential Warners acquisition and not on the day-to-day operations of the film studio.)<\/p>\n

\n\tSeveral years before his firing, Shell and NBCUniversal movie chief Donna Langley informed staff at Universal Pictures that Josh Goldstine, president of worldwide marketing, was being suspended after an investigation into complaints of inappropriate conduct. Shell and Langley praised the women who came forward, and Goldstine was fired, but he later won a $20\u00a0million arbitration ruling against NBCU (the arbitration findings were never made public). He joined Warner Bros. as president of worldwide marketing in 2021 before being laid off at the beginning of this year. Greenstein lobbied Ellison to name Goldstine president of worldwide marketing and distribution at Paramount, and he joined the studio in mid-October. Some might have forgotten that in 2001, Goldstine was one of two top execs at Sony\u2019s creative\u00a0advertising division who were suspended and later\u00a0demoted for making up glowing critics\u2019\u00a0quotes for A Knight\u2019s\u00a0 Tale after a class-action lawsuit was filed against the studio for duping\u00a0moviegoers into seeing the film.<\/p>\n

\n\tGoldstine now reports to Greenstein and Goldberg, who was Ellison\u2019s longtime trusted movie and TV production czar at Skydance. Known for being loyal, Ellison also brought over Skydance movie and sports chief Don Granger to lead the film division. Greenstein and Goldstine have many fans and are widely admired for their marketing acumen. But both are ruffling feathers internally.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSouth Park duo Trey Parker (left) and Matt Stone have delayed their racially charged Kendrick Lamar comedy.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJon Kopaloff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tA culture clash is almost guaranteed when putting together a team of ambitious executives who have long thought they deserved more power than Hollywood has afforded them. Greenstein, who had a previous stint at Paramount as marketing and distribution head before decamping for Sony in 2014 and rising to co-president of the motion picture group, waited in the wings for years to succeed Sony film chief Tom Rothman but was thwarted when the elder executive re-upped his deal this year. He is a man\u2019s man famous for his golfing outings \u2014 one go-to partner is Mark Wahlberg \u2014 and drives a lifted truck to accommodate his mountain bike, another one of his passions.<\/p>\n

\n\tGranger, meanwhile, spent years at Paramount as a production exec \u2014 including working on a number of Tom Cruise films \u2014 before striking out on his own (Snakes on a Plane was one credit). He joined United Artists in 2004, when it was run by Cruise and Paula Wagner, and ascended to president of production in 2007, but UA languished and he joined Skydance in 2014, running film under Goldberg and Ellison and producing titles such as Jack Reacher.<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount insiders debunk the notion that this new team is making \u201cflyover state\u201d films but readily admit they are building a slate focused on areas it sees as underserved by Hollywood, a move that mirrors Ellison\u2019s work to reshape CBS News. The mogul has complained that the news business has been taken over by coastal elites out of touch with the American public, so it\u2019s not surprising that he\u2019s bringing the same ethos to his studio. One major emphasis is to develop broad, testosterone-laden tentpoles like a Call of Duty movie that Taylor Sheridan is writing<\/a> and a $100\u00a0million-plus motorcross film directed by James Mangold and starring Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, who would earn a career-high $25\u00a0million. (Mangold also has a new overall deal with the studio.) Paramount also is keen on making a Western with 1923 actor Brandon Sklenar.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe one thing I\u2019m trying to figure out is what other big priorities they are embracing,\u201d says a rival executive. Asks another studio head, \u201cIs there anything that isn\u2019t a male-driven action movie?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount insists there is. During an Aug.\u00a013 media event, Greenstein name-checked such franchises as Star Trek, Transformers and World War Z. He also indicated an interest in horror (Paramount is home to A Quiet Place and Smile) and R-rated comedies. Insiders at Paramount say the team\u2019s guiding principle is ensuring that every movie is an event. This doesn\u2019t just mean franchises, it could include risqu\u00e9 comedies for both men (think: The Hangover) and women (Bridesmaids) or dramas targeting Black audiences (\u00e0 la The Woman King, which Greenstein made at Sony).<\/p>\n

\n\tThere appears to be little appetite for risky critical-darling or awards-bait fare. Paramount\u2019s small, internal awards team was laid off in October, though sources say they will remain on through the end of Oscar season. The studio already pulled back dramatically on awards plans for the Channing Tatum-Kirsten Dunst feature Roofman.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey have no interest in anything but down-the-middle IP. It\u2019s all about commerciality,\u201d says one industry source.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, not all male-driven action tentpoles have been embraced: Nearly $20\u00a0million in marketing was slashed from Edgar Wright\u2019s big-budget The Running Man, starring Glen Powell and made by the previous regime. The $110\u00a0million movie bombed, opening to a mere $18\u00a0million.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough morale at the movie studio was low before the merger, sources say it has further plummeted among holdover staff as Greenstein and Goldberg, with input from Granger, go through the slate, killing projects or selling them off. Eloise, an adaptation of Kay Thompson\u2019s beloved children\u2019s series about a girl living at the Plaza hotel in New York, was quietly sold to Netflix. Ryan Reynolds had been quick to board the MRC project as a producer and star when approached by the prior regime, saying his three young daughters are huge fans of the book. But sources say Greenstein in particular didn\u2019t believe the IP was relevant in today\u2019s times, nor did the studio want to make it as a theatrical movie for the $75\u00a0million budget, even though MRC is helping to cover the cost. The Goldberg-Greenstein regime also has scrapped plans to make Winter Games, a romantic sports drama starring Miles Teller.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut those aren\u2019t the only femme-fueled titles being scrapped: Another project that isn\u2019t going forward is Victor and Sam\u2019s Day Off, a spinoff of Ferris Bueller\u2019s Day Off; ditto for Colin Trevorrow\u2019s Area 51 movie that has Reynolds attached to produce.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s hardly unusual for incoming leaders to take stock of what they have and jettison things. But Greenstein has stated that the company hopes to release 15 films a year starting in 2026. As one producer with ties to Paramount asks, \u201cHow are they going to make so many movies when they are killing them left and right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRush Hour 4 is one answer. Another is the R-rated workplace comedy Bald Eagles, a spec they scooped up days after coming into power. The studio also is developing a new Paranormal Activity movie with James Wan and Blumhouse producing, sources say, and moving forward with a carry-over romantic comedy that\u2019s set to star Brie Larson is based on Rebecca Serle\u2019s best-selling book One Italian Summer.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSeth Rogen (left) and Ramsey Naito are on, off, and on again with the TNMT: Mutant Mayhem\u00a0franchise.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhillip Faraone\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new regime is now figuring out what to do with the Ninja Turtles franchise. It\u2019s so impressed by Sonic the Hedgeghog that it has hired Sonic producer Neal H. Moritz<\/a> to guide a a live-action Turtles movie that\u2019s already nabbed a high-profile Thanksgiving holiday release date of Nov. 17, 2028. Meanwhile, the sister TV division has canceled the spin-off to the Seth Rogen-produced Mutant Mayhem, leading to industry chatter that the big-screen animated sequel is in jeopardy. But sources say the top brass at Paramount, which has already spent $40\u00a0million on the Mayhem 2, remains high on the sequel and intends to move with its October 2027 release date, with a third movie even being discussed with Rogen and his Point Grey.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf the famously outspoken liberal Rogen makes an odd bedfellow for a studio that\u2019s so close to Trump, it gets even weirder. One project that is moving right along is from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They are a cash cow for Paramount, and particularly Paramount+, so much so that Ellison quickly reupped their deal after taking over as CEO.<\/p>\n

\n\tTrump has remained notably silent on the duo, who have gone after him with a vengeance that has made them more relevant and popular than ever. But he may not be able to resist complaining about the live-action, music-infused comedy skewering racism that\u2019s in the works from the duo and Kendrick Lamar. The story centers on a young Black man who takes a job performing as a slave at a popular plantation attraction, and who grows quickly wary about the entire situation, though insiders say this logline may be outdated as is describing it as an ensemble comedy. It\u2019s hard to say, considering only a few people at Paramount have been allowed to read the script at Parker and Stone\u2019s office; the duo, along with Lamar, have full creative control. Those who have read it say it\u2019s outrageously funny.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe still untitled movie, known internally as Whitney Springs, was supposed to hit theaters during the July 4th holiday this year, but Lamar, who produces, and filmmaker Dave Free (Lamar\u2019s manager) wanted major reshoots; the film was pushed to March\u00a020, 2026. In recent days, Paramount revealed that it won\u2019t be ready for that date<\/a>, as word broke elsewhere that Lamar may go on tour. When it\u2019s finally done, however, Paramount will have no choice but to open it in cinemas. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThey\u2019ll release it with closed eyes and gritted teeth,\u201d says someone close to the project, which at this stage features Parker onscreen as the town\u2019s mayor. Paramount and the filmmakers have not announced any casting and have kept all details under wraps.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough Larry Ellison\u2019s bromance with Trump might get the most media attention, David Ellison himself has a much more crucial business bromance \u2014 with Cruise. The mogul has heaped praise upon the star, with whom he has made 10 films, including installments of Mission: Impossible and Top Gun: Maverick. Privately, though, the relationship has not always been smooth sailing.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to two sources, Cruise grew unhappy with Ellison not long after Robbins came aboard at the top of Paramount in 2021. During a meeting about the final two Mission: Impossible movies, Cruise said he needed tens of millions of dollars in additional production funds. Ellison suggested that Cruise find some of the money on his own. From then on, multiple sources say Cruise wouldn\u2019t attend any production or marketing meetings if Ellison was in the room. Still, the Robbins regime ultimately caved to Cruise\u2019s demands, coughing up more dough. (Sources close to Skydance dispute there was any such rift.)<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Cruise is eager to get Top Gun 3 off the ground. He\u2019s also seeking a home for his deep-sea disaster adventure that reportedly sports a production budget north of $200\u00a0million. Warner Bros., where Cruise has a deal, and Universal have passed. Sources confirm that Cruise recently went to the Paramount lot to pay his respects to the new leadership, which would seem to mean he no longer is at odds with Ellison. And if Ellison gets his way and buys Warners in a history-changing moment for Hollywood, Cruise won\u2019t be the only one having to acquiesce to a new cultural order.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tParamount\u2019s every-movie-is-an-event-for-somebody strategy meant pulling back on marketing for Roofman (left) and The Running Man.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDavi Russo\/Paramount Pictures; Ross Ferguson\/Paramount Pictures<\/p>\n

\n\tPeter Kiefer contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis story appeared in the Dec. 3 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the days before the Paramount-Skydance merger closed, headlines as to who was staying and who was going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[64,63,20552,134,344,14627],"class_list":{"0":"post-327869","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-david-ellison","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-movies","13":"tag-paramount"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}