David Ellison got the merger he wanted—but transforming his company won’t be cheap or easy in a political environment where late-night comics are being pulled for monologues the president dislikes.
On Aug. 13, David Ellison assembled his leadership team on the Hollywood lot of Paramount Pictures , the start of a new era at the 113-year-old studio. “One of our biggest priorities is actually restoring Paramount as the No. 1 destination for the most talented artists and filmmakers in the world,” Ellison said, fiddling with his Oura ring and looking out at the press huddled in the studio’s commissary. Seated at the front of the room, Ellison took questions for the next half hour, deflecting inquiries about his relationship with President Donald Trump while praising CBS News and boasting of big plans for more Star Trek and Transformers movies. Then he walked offstage for lunch, though he didn’t get to do much eating. As deputies and PR people tried coaxing reporters to interrogate Ellison’s lieutenants, everyone jockeyed for time with Hollywood’s newest mogul.