English Entertainment
MGM reports decline in second quarter revenues
MUMBAI: Media conglomerate MGM has announced that second quarter revenues for the period ending 30 June 2004 totalled $406.1 million. This represents a decline from the $487.7-million figure in the corresponding quarter last year
In India, MGM has joint venture with Zee for the English movie channel Zee MGM. On a more positive note, the company reported a reduced net loss of $19.7 million compared to last year’s figure of $133.6 million.
MGM chairman and CEO Alex Yemenidjian said,”Our ability to consistently generate cash flow afforded us the opportunity to reward our shareholders, yet again, with a tax-free, extraordinary dividend of $8.00 per share during the second quarter.”
Operating highlights:
– MGM Networks launched a branded channel in Spain in an alliance with Media Park, one of Spain’s leading cable television distributors.
– In its Pan-Asian alliance with CNBC, MGM Networks expanded to Singapore and Macau.
– MGM’s movie Walking Tall and United Artists’ Saved which were released in the second quarter will be profitable.
– Worldwide DVD unit shipments in the quarter increased 11 per cent to approximately 34 million.
– On the television front, Stargate SG-1 began its eighth season with the programme’s highest ratings ever on the Sci-Fi Channel in the US. The premiere episode was the highest-rated series telecast in the history of the Sci-Fi Channel
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
