EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures has discreetly extended the studio’s collaborative deal with MGM+ until 2025, as per sources at Deadline. The previous agreement, which was sealed in 2021, was expected to end by December 2023. However, another extension was not certain due to significant transformations within the network — previously known as Epix at the time of the deal — over the past two years. Following MGM’s acquisition by Amazon in 2022, it underwent changes in ownership and rebranded as MGM+.
An insider familiar with the situation revealed that the Pay 1 deal was prolonged sometime last year and will cover Paramount Pictures’ 2025 slate. This extension was made within the framework of the revised 2021 contract, which allows most of the studio’s theatrical releases to premiere first on Paramount+ before being featured on MGM+. (The upcoming 2023 blockbuster Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning is scheduled to premiere on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Canada on January 25, followed by a rollout in international markets in February.)
In 2022, Paramount Global announced that, commencing from the release of films in 2024, Paramount+ will serve as the exclusive streaming platform for all new Paramount Pictures releases in the United States after their theatrical run.
This includes the highly anticipated 2024 movie from the studio, the box office success Mean Girls. Under the agreement with MGM+, Paramount has been acquiring Pay 1 windows for the movies that debut on Paramount+ first.
Strategies regarding the Pay 1 window have become more intricate in the era of streaming. Historically, Pay 1 deals between studios and premium cable networks provided financial stability within the film release model. However, with evolving consumer expectations and challenges to traditional theatrical attendance due to Covid, major media companies have shown greater readiness to disrupt the established structure. NBCUniversal’s Peacock has made Universal’s lineup available during the Pay 1 window, and executives have emphasized that recent theatrical releases have significantly boosted new subscriptions.
The 2021 Epix agreement amended Paramount Pictures’ original five-year collaboration inked at the time of the network’s launch in 2017, developed as a joint project involving Paramount, Lionsgate, and MGM. (Epix subsequently transitioned to full ownership by MGM, having bought out its two partners.)
Under the 2021 deal, Paramount Pictures has also been compensating MGM+ for sublicensing older titles and non-Paramount movies licensed by the network, including titles from MGM and Sony Pictures. Previously, Epix had “white label” agreements for its movie titles with Amazon and Hulu, all of which have now expired with the films being redirected to Paramount+ by Paramount Pictures.
Dade Hayes contributed to this report.
