Film Production
Paramount Pictures sees a change of guard
MUMBAI: Viacom’s motion picture company Paramount Pictures will see a change at the top. Veteran Hollywood talent manager who produced of the HBO hit television series The Sopranos Brad Grey will head the company from or before 1 March 2005.
Grey will take over Paramount Motion Picture Group chaireman and CEO. Grey will have ultimate authority on film development and production as well as business operations, worldwide. He replaces Sherry Lansing who had announced last year that she would not continue once her contract expired.
Lansing was responsible in a big way for hits such as Titanic and Braveheart. The trouble now at Paramount is that it has been several years since it had a major hit. Meanwhile rivals Warner and Sony jave scored big with The Lord Of the Rings and Spiderman.
Lansing’s stepping down signals the end of an era. When she became Paramount’s CEO in 1992 many industry observers felt that she had broken the glass ceiling for women in Hollywood.
Last year Paramount made films like The Stepford Wives that sank like a stone at the box office. Grey has the uneviable task of reinvigorating the studio. On a more positive side a recent Paramount film with Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events has managed to pull in the bucks.. In addition The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie received a positive response.
Grey will report to Viacom co COO Tom Freston. Freston said, “Brad’s integrity and values are matched by his exceptional vast entertainment experience and common sense. Brad’s smarts, style and instincts have made him a winner time after time over the years. He’s an entrepreneur, a manager, a dealmaker, a hit maker and has that combination of creative business acumen. He’s the ideal leader for the challenges of motion picture business today and tomorrow.”
One upcoming film that Paramount is hoping will turn things around is War of the Worlds. This modern retake on the H.G. Wells classic novel reteams Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg. They had earlier worked on Minority Report. In fact Cruise has postponed plans to make a third installment of Mission Impossible so that he could work with Spielberg.
Film Production
Arka Mediaworks onboards 88 Pictures as animation studio partner on ‘The Eternal War – Part 1’
Arka Mediaworks announces that 88 Pictures, the acclaimed animation and visual storytelling studio known for its cutting-edge CGI and cinematic artistry, is on board as the animation partner for the highly anticipated Baahubali: The Eternal War, a groundbreaking two-part 3D animated feature film set in the globally beloved Baahubali universe.
Baahubali: The Eternal War represents a bold new chapter in the Baahubali saga envisioned for national and international audiences and crafted with the ambition of delivering one of India’s most ambitious and globally benchmarked animation projects to date.
88 Pictures will execute the animation production, bringing to life the film’s richly detailed worlds, epic battle sequences, and larger-than-life characters with its signature blend of artistic vision, performance-driven animation, and advanced production pipelines. Working closely with the film’s creative leadership and technical partners, the studio aims to set new benchmarks in animation quality, cinematic storytelling, and global scalability.
This animated epic follows the successful re-release of Baahubali: The Epic (the combined theatrical version of the original live-action films) on 31 October 2025 across India and the USA. During the film’s interval, legendary creator and director S.S. Rajamouli (Baahubali 1 & 2, RRR) stunned audiences with a surprise teaser for The Eternal War – Part 1. The video immediately went viral, garnering widespread national and international acclaim across LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube for its ambitious visual style and scale.
Produced by Arka Mediaworks and led by co-founder and CEO Shobu Yarlagadda – producer of the iconic Baahubali duology, The Eternal War brings together fantastic storytelling and cutting-edge animation.. The film is directed and written by acclaimed animation filmmaker Ishan Shukla (Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust, Star Wars: Visions – “The Bandits of Golak”) and screenplay by Scott Mosier (The Grinch). Mihira Visual Labs, the studio co-founded by Yarlagadda anchors the film’s animation, visual development, and execution.
The partnership with 88 Pictures brings significant pedigree to the project; the studio is well-regarded for its work on high-profile international titles including DreamWorks’ series Trollhunters, the HBO Max original series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Disney’s animated short An Almost Christmas Story to name a few.
Yarlagadda shared, “We are happy to onboard 88 Pictures as the animation studio partner for our prestigious and most expensive animated film from India. We believe that their expertise and capabilities will allow us to produce a first-of-its-kind, world-class animated feature film from India.”
88 Pictures founder & CEO Milind D. Shinde said, “Baahubali changed the way cinema is perceived and became a defining milestone that turned the tide for Indian live-action filmmaking. Expanding the franchise into an entirely new universe—at a never-seen, never-done scale—through an animated feature created in India for a global audience is set to redefine how the world views Indian animation. We are truly thrilled to be part of this landmark project and to bring it to life under the visionary direction of Ishan Shukla, guided by the experience and leadership of acclaimed producer Shobu Yarlagadda.”
Shukla expressed, “Eternal War requires a level of visual and emotional precision that can only come from teams who truly understand both craft and intent. Working with 88 Pictures, alongside Mihira Visual Labs, has been a deeply collaborative experience. This association brings together technical excellence and creative sensitivity, enabling us to translate an ambitious vision into a compelling cinematic reality.”
Baahubali: The Eternal War – Part 1 is scheduled for release in 2027
