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    Back to The Business

    The Business

    Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos has faith that audiences will return to movie theaters

    When Jim Gianopulos left Fox in 2017 to take the top job at Paramount, he found a weakened studio that had been through a string of flops.

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    By Kim Masters • Nov 20, 2020 • 21m Listen

    When Jim Gianopulos left Fox in 2017 to take the top job at Paramount, he found a weakened studio that had been through a string of flops.

    As he has worked to rebuild, Gianopulos has found success with hits like “A Quiet Place'' and “Sonic the Hedgehog.” Meanwhile he’s had to deal with massive changes at the corporate level as Paramount’s parent company Viacom was combined with CBS in 2019.

    At the same time, the digital revolution has been hitting full force, with the business consolidating and the big media companies undergoing transformative reorganizations and strategy shifts.

    And then there’s the pandemic.

    Gianopulos talks about how he’s running a studio in the midst of all this, how he decides which movies will go to streamers and which will go to theaters next year, plus why he believes people will be back in theaters one day.

    He also discusses the presidential election. Gianopulos has been a staunch Joe Biden supporter from the start and met with Biden in 2018 to urge him to run.

    The full episode

    2 of 2
    Paramount chief Jim Gianopulos on running a film studio during a global pandemic
    1. 1:03Hollywood news banter: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ will go to theaters and streaming on the same day
    2. 6:45Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos has faith that audiences will return to movie theatersYou’re reading this
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Kim Masters

      partner/writer at Puck News, host of KCRW's “The Business.”

    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Kaitlin Parker

      Producer, 'The Business' and 'Hollywood Breakdown'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Jim Gianopulos

      Chairman and CEO, Paramount Pictures

      CultureEntertainmentArts

    The full episode

    2 of 2
    Paramount chief Jim Gianopulos on running a film studio during a global pandemic
    1. 1:03Hollywood news banter: ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ will go to theaters and streaming on the same day
    2. 6:45Paramount CEO Jim Gianopulos has faith that audiences will return to movie theatersYou’re reading this
    Back to The Business