News Analysis India

Tag: Paramount Plus

  • Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Tulsa King’ series casts AC Peterson in pivotal role

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Veteran actor AC Peterson has joined the cast of Sylvester Stallone-led Paramount Plus series “Tulsa King”.

    The show also features actors Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza and Jay Will.

    According to Variety, the project hails from creator and executive producer Taylor Sheridan.

    Terrence Winter is showrunning and executive producing “Tulsa King”.

    The series follows New York mafia capo Dwight ‘The General’ Manfredi (Stallone) just after he is released from prison after 25 years and unceremoniously exiled by his boss to set up shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    “Realising that his mob family may not have his best interests in mind, Dwight slowly builds a ‘crew’ from a group of unlikely characters, to help him establish a new criminal empire in a place that to him might as well be another planet,” the plotline reads.

    Peterson will essay the role of as Pete ‘The Rock’ Invernizzi, Chickie’s (Lombaradozzi) ailing father.

    “Tulsa King” is produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios. 

  • WATCH | Video game adaptation series ‘Halo’ trailer unveiled

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: The makers of ‘Halo’ have unveiled an action-packed trailer of the highly anticipated science fiction series.

    As per Variety, the series, based on Xbox Game Studios’ best-selling series of first-person shooter video games, is set to premiere on March 24, 2022.

    The two-minute-long trailer gives a glimpse into the story set in the 26th century, focusing on the adventures of Master Chief (Pablo Schreiber), a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier known as a Spartan that defends humanity under the orders of the United Nations Space Command.

    While plot details of the live-action series are being kept under wraps, most games in the ‘Halo’ franchise focus on the UNSC’s war with an alien theocracy known as the Covenant.

    The trailer features Master Chief engaged in action, teasing plenty of large-scale battles, alien planets and energy swords.

    WATCH ‘Halo’ series trailer

    In addition to Schreiber, ‘Halo’ will also feature Natascha McElhone as Dr Catherine Halsey, the creator of the Spartan program, and Jen Taylor, who reprises her voice role as the AI Cortana from the ‘Halo’ video games.

    The main cast is rounded out with Yerin Ha, Charlie Murphy, Shabana Azmi, Bokeem Woodbine, Olive Gray, Kate Kennedy, Natasha Culzac, Bentley Kalu, Danny Sapani and Jesse Tyler Ridgway.

    The live-action ‘Halo’ series has been in development since 2013 and was initially set to be produced by the now-defunct Xbox Entertainment Studios as a show exclusively for the Xbox One.

    ‘Halo’ was ordered to series in 2018 by Showtime and began filming October 2019 before pausing production due to COVID-19 in 2020. Last February, it was announced that the show had moved from Showtime to Paramount Plus.

  • ‘South Park’ creators sign latest streaming mega deal with Paramount+

    By AFP

    LOS ANGELES: “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone signed a massive deal Thursday, August 5, 2021, to make 14 movies of their enduring satirical cartoon for streaming service Paramount+, as Hollywood’s frenzied scramble for online content accelerates.

    While MTV Entertainment Studios — which like Paramount+ is owned by parent corporation ViacomCBS — did not release any financial figures, Bloomberg News put the deal at $900 million, which would make it one of the largest in television history.

    The Paramount+ streaming platform launched in March in a bid to compete in a crowded and content-hungry marketplace led by the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

    In a statement, MTV Entertainment’s Chris McCarthy said developing new content with “tremendous talent like Matt and Trey, is at the heart of our strategy to continue growing Paramount+.”

    The deal also includes multiple new series of “South Park” for television network Comedy Central, which will see the long-running satire reach its 30th year by 2027.

    “South Park,” set in small-town America and known for crude language and lampooning hot-button social issues since 1997, has already spawned one film, multiple video games and other merchandise.

    “Comedy Central has been our home for 25 years and we’re really happy that they’ve made a commitment to us for the next 75 years,” said Parker and Stone in the joint statement.

    “We can’t wait to get back to doing traditional South Park episodes but now we can also try out new formats,” they added.

    While ViacomCBS did not immediately comment on the $900 million figure, it would put the deal on a par with Reese Witherspoon’s sale of her Hello Sunshine company to a new private equity-backed media venture this week.

    It also comes after Amazon in May agreed to buy MGM studios for $8.45 billion.

    Other streaming platforms recently launched by major media and tech companies to join the so-called “streaming wars” include HBO Max, Peacock and Apple TV+, each seeking vast content libraries to attract and retain subscribers.

    ViacomCBS said Wednesday that it had reached 42 million streaming subscribers. Current market leader Netflix has more than 200 million.

  • Mark Wahlberg-starrer ‘Infinite’ skips theatrical release, heading straight to Paramount Plus

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg’s sci-fi film “Infinite” is set to skip the theatres and release directly on streamer Paramount Plus. The announcement was made by ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish during the company’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday, reported Variety.

    The sci-fi thriller, directed by Antoine Fuqua, was slated to hit cinemas in the US on September 24. “Infinite” is an adaptation of author D Eric Maikranz’s 2009 novel “The Reincarnationist Papers”. Wahlberg stars as Evan McCauley, a guy who is haunted daily by skills he has never learned and the memories of places he’s never visited.

    “Self-medicated and on the brink of a mental breakdown, he is rescued by a secret group whose members call themselves ‘Infinites’. They reveal to him that his memories are real – but they are from multiple past lives,” the official plotline read.

    Other cast members include Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sophie Cookson, Jason Mantzoukas, Rupert Friend, Toby Jones and Dylan O’Brien. The film has been produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, Mark Huffam, John Zaozirny, Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson.

  • After ‘Shotgun Wedding’, Armie Hammer now exits ‘The Offer’ due to social media scandal

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES: Hollywood actor Armie Hammer has exited yet another project in the wake of a social media scandal.

    Hammer was set to star in “The Offer”, Paramount Plus’ upcoming series about the making cult classic movie “The Godfather”, but he has now exited the project, reported Variety.

    This is the second project the actor has left post a controversy over graphic and disturbing text messages he allegedly sent to several women over social media.

    The messages have not yet been verified.

    Hammer previously departed Lionsgate’s feature “Shotgun Wedding”, where he was set to star opposite Jennifer Lopez.

     Actor Josh Duhamel is now in talks to replace him.

    The actor had responded to the scandal at the time, saying the “vicious and spurious online attacks” against him were the reason for his exit from the movie.

    “I’m not responding to these b******t claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for four months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic,” the actor had said.