From “Trek” to “Grease,” Paramount+ mines its past
If you want to start a big-time streaming service, here’s a tip: It helps to have a movie studio.
That’s what Disney+ and HBO Max do. They have treasure hunts through the Disney and Warner vaults, finding films to re-make, revise or re-imagine. And lately, Paramount+ has done the same.
Once a modest streamer called CBS All Access, it has been renamed and re-vitalized, jumping from four million subscribers (four years ago) to closer to 50 million. At Television Critics Association sessions, it offered ambitious plans, many of them linked to past Paramount hits.
“Star Trek” has been a key. Paramount+ has launched two large series (“Discovery” and “Strange New Worlds” ), an intimate one (“Picard”), an animated one (“Lower Decks”) and “Short Treks.” Now the “Next Generation” cast is re-uniting on Feb. 16, for what will be the final “Picard” season – maybe. “There is still enormous potential for narrative, in what we’ve been doing,” said star Patrick Stewart, 82, (shown here with Levar Burton). “And there are doors left open.
Meanwhile, other shows are also being mined. There’s: Read more…