For some in Hollywood, there’s a sigh of relief in Skydance’s $8 billion takeover of Paramount: A legacy motion picture studio and entertainment conglom will largely remain standing.
This versus if Sony had actually won Paramount, in which case we’d be looking at a potential reduction in theatrical releases, a maneuver that would greatly impact both the greater production and exhibition ecosystem.
Dean Devlin, who produced the 2006 movie Flyboys, which starred a young David Ellison, praised the financier-producer’s talents Monday as an exec who’ll be prime to run a studio, and one whose creativity provides a bright light at a time when the industry is challenged by change. “The massive explosion of Silicon Valley was driven by companies run by engineers and visionaries who were passionate about what they were building,” said Devlin. “David Ellison is first and foremost a filmmaker.
I knew him well in the beginning of his career. His motivation to build his company wasn’t monetarily opportunistic. He built his company so he could make the movies and television shows that inspired him.
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