Sony Chairman Tom Rothman Paddles Upstream To Keep Focus On Traditional Cinema — Deadline Disruptors
deadline.comFrom the time he stepped in as chairman of Sony’s Motion Picture Group in 2015, Tom Rothman has heard the rumors that Sony would eventually sell because it didn’t have a streaming service or the scale to compete with its behemoth rivals.
Universal, Warner Bros., Disney and Paramount battle it out with him at the box office, but Rothman’s studio is the only one that hasn’t spent a fortune building a streaming arm that factors into the decisions he makes.DEADLINE: You’re a Disruptor by being the only major studio head without the cushion of streaming service subscriptions, and you’re making it work.
You’re a throwback to a model you used for decades at Fox, a studio that no longer exists.TOM ROTHMAN: So, I’m the Last of the Mohicans?DEADLINE: Why have other studios—and Wall Street—decided your model isn’t a good long-term strategy?ROTHMAN: To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the theatrical movie have been greatly exaggerated.
Why it happened? There’s a current Wall Street obsession with streaming. The media narrative follows, and it becomes viewed as established wisdom whether or not it’s true.
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