Latest news with #Spellbound
Business Insider
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Paramount's deal with Skydance is finally closed: Here are 6 questions for its new owners.
After many twists and turns, the $8 billion tie-up of Skydance and Paramount Global is finally happening. So what's next? Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison and his son, David, are taking control of Paramount Global from Shari Redstone with a plan to revive the storied entertainment company by giving it a tech infusion. The epic drama has played out as the media industry faces disruption from the rise of streaming — and now a president who's used his power to influence critics in the media and beyond. We know this much: David Ellison, who will be chairman and CEO of the new combined company, has named his new leadership slate, sweeping out most of the old Paramount execs except for George Cheeks, previously co-CEO of Paramount; while expanding the power of execs like Dana Goldberg, who was chief creative officer at his (much smaller) Skydance Media. Big changes are ahead for the home of CBS, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, and more, where Ellison has promised cost cuts of $2 billion. The company is also expected to invest $1.5 billion to help pay down debt. The deal's backers, the Ellisons and RedBird Capital Partners, have deep pockets that could fund additional, transformative deals in areas like tech or gaming, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Integrated Media Co., which invests in digital media and is not an investor in Paramount Skydance. "There's a lot of money surrounding Paramount right now," he said. "They can think big." Many questions lie ahead, including how its streaming strategy will play out, what the company might keep and buy, and how it'll navigate potential political headwinds. Paramount is attractive for its new senior management that's well-liked, massive pool of capital, and willingness to look at different structures for the streaming business, Raymond James wrote in a July 31 investor note. "Still, Paramount faces significant exposure to the declining linear TV business, high leverage, and for now a sub-scale, not yet globally profitable streaming business." Paramount didn't immediately respond to requests for comment for this story. Here are some of the key questions and challenges facing the new Paramount Skydance. Can tech save Paramount? Ellison made a tech-heavy pitch for combining Skydance and Paramount, invoking Steve Jobs as he explained how he sees technology and the arts working hand in hand. Describing the combined company as equally a tech and media enterprise, he talked about upgrading the Paramount+ algorithm to give users better recommendations and using AI to improve content creation. He also described how Skydance worked with his father's company, Oracle, to create a cloud-based animation studio, which it used to produce part of "Spellbound," a 2024 animated film, increasing efficiency and cutting costs. But changing user behavior takes time, and Paramount+ needs more than better recommendations to make it a must-have for entertainment seekers, starting with more must-see shows. Hollywood is gradually embracing AI, especially to lower production costs. The tech and its adoption are still relatively new, making it hard to precisely quantify how much it could actually cut expenses (or make movies better, as the glass-half-full people like to say). How can Paramount+ compete? Paramount+ counts 78 million subscribers, helped by the NFL, CBS shows such as "NCIS" and favorites like "Star Trek" and the "Yellowstone" universe. And Paramount has started turning a profit. But Paramount+ ranks fourth among the major paid streamers by subscriptions and accounts for just 2% of TV streaming viewership, according to Nielsen. In addition to the aforementioned tech enhancements, Paramount+ needs more must-see shows to drive subscriptions. LightShed has noted that Skydance struck deals to make movies for Netflix and Apple, so those won't be available to Paramount for a while. But in a sign it means business, Paramount just did a $1.5 billion deal for the global streaming rights for "South Park," and will look to Cindy Holland, hailed as the architect of Netflix's original content business, to give its streamer a shot in the arm. Hollywood insiders are excited for Holland to get going and for Paramount to kick-start the marketplace for new shows, which has slowed since the end of Peak-TV. One agent said talent is saving pitches for shows that they think could be a fit for Paramount, confident it'll soon be a big customer again. A second agent said industry chatter is that Paramount will ramp up its movie output. "What it means is a very healthy new buyer," the person said, referring to Ellison's deep pockets compared to the former cash-strapped company. He also expects Ellison will be looking for high-minded fare in addition to the broadly appealing titles Skydance is known for, like the "Top Gun" and "Mission: Impossible" movies. How will Paramount solve the linear TV problem? The old linear TV business is going away in favor of streaming, especially as companies put more of their live sports on streaming platforms, taking fans with them. Growing the streaming arm while managing a declining linear business can go two ways: Paramount can continue to milk its linear channels for the income they're still generating, or spin them off to generate cash. Lately, companies like Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery have chosen the latter strategy. Christopher Vollmer, managing director at ad industry consultancy MediaLink, thinks Paramount will take a similar route. "They'll do as much as they can to raise cash," he said. "If you're committed to building a streaming business, you have to put as much firepower behind them as you can." It's not necessarily an all-or-nothing game, as he sees it. "They'll want to keep CBS to keep their leverage with the distribution world, and with the NFL, the consumer value the network brings is really important." Others, like BET and Showtime — that Paramount tried to sell before — could go. What about Trump? Anxieties have been running high for some people in and outside CBS's news division, with President Donald Trump repeatedly targeting the news media. Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement over a lawsuit filed by Trump over routine editing of a "60 Minutes" segment that many legal experts said was meritless — a settlement that was lambasted in journalism and political circles as a concession to get the Skydance deal through. Paramount has disputed this, saying the settlement was "completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction." Skydance went on to agree to conditions to get the merger done, including having an ombudsman and committing to an "unbiased" editorial direction. CBS also canceled the late-night show of Trump critic Stephen Colbert, drawing scrutiny for its timing ahead of the FCC approving the deal. (Paramount has said the move was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.") Ellison hasn't given a lot of clues about his politics. His father is close to Trump and also has looked at buying Bari Weiss's right-leaning outlet, The Free Press, The New York Times reported. So some insiders are on edge about what role Ellison could play with the news. It might not take long to find out. Trump just this week ripped CBS News star Gayle King as having "no talent" and questioned her future at the network. For now, "60 Minutes'" recent appointment of an insider, Tanya Simon, to lead the newsmagazine has raised hope for some. "I have no doubt that she and the excellent corps of correspondents will keep '60' on a strong and sure and independent footing, and I think the new corporate bosses are smart enough to know that's the right call," former producer Rome Hartman said. Politics aside, it's also not hard to imagine Paramount using CBS News to help get to its $2 billion in cost cuts, given it's already trailing the other news networks. Could games jump-start Paramount? Skydance has two video game studios, and Ellison sees games as one of the ways Skydance can kick-start Paramount's business. Video games are a conundrum for Hollywood companies; they're expensive and risky, but ignoring them means missing a big opportunity to extend their IP to a hugely popular pastime. WBD and Disney have taken stabs at games with mixed success, and Netflix is building out its games, but has yet to show meaningful results. If Ellison could figure out how to leverage Paramount's well known IP into games success, he'd accomplish something few others have. What's the endgame? Paramount Skydance still isn't considered big enough to hold its own among bigger media and tech giants, and industry observers expect more consolidation will follow. Analysts have said Paramount Skydance could be a good pairing with Warner, with HBO Max's prestige shows nicely complementing Paramount's sports and Taylor Sheridan's Western soaps. Such a deal would create more exposure to linear TV, though, and it could be hard to fit CNN and CBS under the same roof. And there's the question of whether Comcast's Brian Roberts will get to WBD first. WBD didn't comment, and Comcast didn't immediately reply to a request for comment. Or, Paramount and NBCUniversal could form an alliance that could take on Disney, but it would require casting off one of their news networks to avoid antitrust concerns. Of course, all these scenarios would mean either Ellison, Warner's David Zaslav, or Roberts would have to go away, which none seem ready to want to do. Then, more interestingly, there's the TikTok wild card. Oracle has already been involved in both TikTok and Paramount as its cloud services provider. It's also a potential bidder among a group of US firms looking to buy TikTok's US operations and save TikTok from a US ban, Bloomberg and other outlets have reported. If Oracle ended up owning TikTok, it would put the Ellison family behind one of the biggest content companies and one of the biggest tech platforms, with more than 150 million active monthly US users.
Belfast Telegraph
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Belfast Telegraph
Five of the best sports documentaries of all time (and where to watch them)
The great thing about sports documentaries is that they can cover a huge, HUGE amount of events. Obviously, the stuff that immediately comes to mind are the huge sporting events from around the world, but if you think smaller, think more niche, there is very likely a fantastic documentary dealing with that event too. Fascinated by deep-sea diving? A must-watch for you is The Deepest Breath. A lover of e-sports? Then you have to check out The King Of Kong. Looking for something completely left field but still super competitive? Spellbound is the one for you, set in the world of spelling bees. Sports fans tend to follow more than just the games—news, stats, even things like betting offers often come up in the mix. These documentaries tap into that same wide interest, showing how deep the love for competition can go. See what we mean? There is quite literally something for everyone. Whittling down that list to five of the best is tough, but these picks are tremendous, and some of the best movies ever made, not just under the banner of sports documentaries. So on with our five picks, and where to watch them* right now: Free Solo – Disney+ From the description alone, you would be forgiven for thinking this isn't going to be THAT interesting a watch, as the documentary profiles rock climber Alex Honnold on his quest to perform the first-ever free solo climb of a route on El Capitan, a vertical rock formation found in Yosemite National Park in California. So you'll have to trust us when we tell you this is one of the most edge-of-your-seat movies you'll ever see, and it proved to be so impressive that it went on to win the Best Documentary Oscar back in 2019. Murderball – rent on Apple TV This documentary focuses on the intense rivalry between the American and Canadian wheelchair rugby teams in the run-up to the 2004 Paralympic Games taking place in Athens, Greece. We get to know the players and their families, who all talk openly and frankly about their injuries, personal lives, and the love of the game that has them all vying for the gold. This movie was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2006 Oscars, but lost out to March of the Penguins. Icarus – Netflix Some of the best documentaries are those that begin filming with something specific in mind – in this case, director Bryan Fogel wanted to expose the inadequacy of the procedures to catch athletes using performance-enhancing substances – but become something else over the course of the movie being made – here, the World Anti-Doping Agency's investigation of doping in Russia led to the head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory to flee his country and become a whistleblower. Icarus went on to win the 2018 Best Documentary Feature Oscar. Senna – Netflix Arguably one of the best and most impactful documentaries not to even be nominated for an Oscar, this film tells the story of much-loved Brazilian motor-racing champion Ayrton Senna. Directed by Asif Kapadia (who went on to win an Oscar in 2016 for his Amy Winehouse documentary), it tells us about Senna's life, death, and intimate rivalry with fellow driver Alain Prost through archival race footage and home video recorded by Senna's friends and family. When We Were Kings – Sky/NOW Another Best Documentary Picture winner, focusing on the night of The Rumble in the Jungle in 1974. Betting offers on underdog Muhammad Ali were 4-1 against the then-unbeaten, heavy-hitting George Forman. It took director Leon Gast over 22 years to edit and finance before it could be released in 2006, when it was met with immediate critical acclaim, and the movie is still considered to be one of the best sports documentaries ever made.
The Hindu
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Indian-American Faizan Zaki overcomes shocking, self-inflicted flub to win Scripps National Spelling Bee
Indian-American Faizan Zaki's enthusiasm for spelling nearly got the better of him. Ultimately, his joyful approach made him the Scripps National Spelling Bee champion. The favourite entering the bee after his runner-up finish last year, during which he never misspelled a word in a conventional spelling round, only to lose a lightning-round tiebreaker that he didn't practice for, the shaggy-haired Faizan wore the burden of expectations lightly, sauntering to the microphone in a black hoodie and spelling his words with casual glee. Including Faizan, whose parents emigrated from southern India, 30 of the past 36 champions have been Indian American, a run that began with Nupur Lala's victory in 1999, which was later featured in the documentary 'Spellbound.' Lala was among the dozens of past champions who attended this year and signed autographs for spellers, families and bee fans to honour the anniversary. Throughout Thursday (May 29, 2025) night's finals, the 13-year-old from Allen, Texas, looked like a champion in waiting. Then he nearly threw it away. But even a shocking moment of overconfidence couldn't prevent him from seizing the title of best speller in the English language. With the bee down to three spellers, Sarvadnya Kadam and Sarv Dharavane missed their words back-to-back, putting Faizan two words away from victory. The first was 'commelina,' but instead of asking the requisite questions — definition, language of origin — to make sure he knew it, Faizan let his showman's instincts take over. 'K-A-M,' he said, then stopped himself. 'OK, let me do this. Oh, shoot!' 'Just ring the bell,' he told head judge Mary Brooks, who obliged. 'So now you know what happens,' Brooks said, and the other two spellers returned to the stage. Later, standing next to the trophy with confetti at his feet, Faizan said, 'I'm definitely going to be having nightmares about that tonight.' Even pronouncer Jacques Bailly tried to slow Faizan down before his winning word, 'eclaircissement,' but Faizan didn't ask a single question before spelling it correctly, and he pumped his fists and collapsed to the stage after saying the final letter. The bee celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, and Faizan may be the first champion who's remembered more for a word he got wrong than one he got right. 'I think he cared too much about his aura,' said Bruhat Soma, Faizan's buddy who beat him in the 'spell-off' tiebreaker last year. Faizan had a more nuanced explanation: After not preparing for the spell-off last year, he over-corrected, emphasising speed during his study sessions. Although Bruhat was fast last year when he needed to be, he followed the familiar playbook for champion spellers: asking thorough questions, spelling slowly and metronomically, showing little emotion. Those are among the hallmarks of well-coached spellers, and Faizan had three coaches: Scott Remer, Sam Evans and Sohum Sukhantankar. None of them could turn Faizan into a robot on stage. 'He's crazy. He's having a good time, and he's doing what he loves, which is spelling,' Evans said. Said Zaki Anwar, Faizan's father: 'He's the GOAT. I actually believe that. He's really good, man. He's been doing it for so long, and he knows the dictionary in and out.' A thrilling centennial After last year's bee had little drama before an abrupt move to the spell-off, Scripps tweaked the competition rules, giving judges more leeway to let the competition play out before going to the tiebreaker. The nine finalists delivered. During one stretch, six spellers got 28 consecutive words right, and there were three perfect rounds during the finals. The last time there was a single perfect round was the infamous 2019 bee, which ended in an eight-way tie. Sarv, an 11-year-old fifth-grader from Dunwoody, Georgia, who ultimately finished third, would have been the youngest champion since Nihar Janga in 2016. He has three years of eligibility remaining. The most poised and mature of the final three, Sarvadnya - who's from Visalia, California - ends his career as the runner-up. He's 14 and in the eighth grade, which means he has aged out of the competition. It's not a bad way to go out, considering that Faizan became just the fifth runner-up in a century to come back and win, and the first since Sean Conley in 2001. With the winner's haul of $52,500 added to his second-place prize of $25,000, Faizan increased his bee earnings to $77,500. His big splurge with his winnings last year was a $1,500 Rubik's cube with 21 squares on each side. This time, he said he'd donate a large portion of his winnings to charity. The bee began in 1925 when the Louisville Courier-Journal invited other newspapers to host spelling bees and send their champions to Washington. For the past 14 years, Scripps has hosted the competition at a convention centre just outside the nation's capital, but the bee returns downtown next year to Constitution Hall, a nearly century-old concert venue near the White House. A passionate champion Faizan has been spelling for more than half his life. He competed in the 2019 bee as a 7-year-old, getting in through a wild-card programme that has since been discontinued. He qualified again in 2023 and made the semifinals before last year's second-place finish. 'One thing that differentiates him is that he really has a passion for this. In his free time, when he's not studying for the bee, he's literally looking up archaic, obsolete words that have no chance of being asked,' Bruhat said. 'I don't think he cares as much about the title as his passion for language and words'. Faizan had no regrets about showing that enthusiasm, even though it nearly cost him. 'No offense to Bruhat, but I think he really took the bee a little too seriously,' Faizan said. 'I decided to have fun with this bee, and I did well, and here I am.'
Winnipeg Free Press
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Phil Henley's Spellbound, an account of life with dyslexia, inspires
Some might know Canadian standup comedian Phil Hanley from memorable appearances on late night talk shows or festival appearances found on Instagram, where his intelligence and quick crowd work have won the Oshawa native a growing audience. In his surprising and moving memoir Spellbound, we learn that planting his feet on the standup stage and finding comfort and a career came to Hanley after many globetrotting adventures — all the while struggling with a severe form of dyslexia that made almost everything he undertook at school painstaking and fraught with anxiety. As is often the case with many brain processing issues, his one challenge is often compounded with others. Whether his distractibility and obsessive compulsions are also medical grade is less relevant than how Hanley has managed to cope and flourish. Spellbound While Hanley mixes up letters and numbers, it seems the number '10' starts to stick. Fancy folks in the fashion business see a commodity in his healthy figure and handsome face. Suddenly, a standup memoir becomes a book about high fashion during a fertile and freaky era. (The more the better!) Soon Hanley is in Milan working as a runway model. He finds a similar lost soul in the troubled and ill-fated designer Alexander McQueen. But life on the upside has its downs, and after a whirlwind season or so and a heavy heartbreak, Hanley lands back in North America. Next up, he's testing his quick wit with the improv collective Upright Citizen's Brigade — who, along with L.A.'s The Groundlings, have been keeping Saturday Night Live in cast members for many seasons. It's during this period in New York that Hanley begins to explore whether solo standup might be the ideal job. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. At the same time, a need to stay grounded leads him to transcendental meditation, made famous by the likes of the Beatles and David Lynch. The practice helps Hanley write, focus and tap into the absurd ideas that make his comedy unique. Being a former model doesn't help much on open mics, but it comes in handy as his prospects improve. Hanley's description of his rise to current fame takes up the last quarter of the book and is funny, wise and engaging. But near the end of his story so far, he circles back to his most steadfast companion — dyslexia. With Spellbound, and in his talks in schools, he is working to remove stigma and dispense encouragement. It must be said that it's not in paper format that we feel the full power of Hanley's resilience. He has recorded an audiobook, which took him over twice as long as a regular reader. Dyslexia doesn't care that he wrote the book. So while this review of Spellbound covers the print edition, the audiobook is a massive personal accomplishment, and should be mentioned as such. Lara Rae deals with attention deficit disorder and borderline personality disorder, and is a standup comic originally from Glasgow.
The Irish Sun
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
‘How did this get through?' fume Britain's Got Talent fans as they rip into ‘shocking' semi-final act
BRITAIN'S Got Talent fans fumed, 'How did this get through?' as they ripped into one "shocking" semi-final act tonight. ITV viewers were left baffled while watching novelty act Papi advance further in the competition with a performance involving squeaky rubber chickens. 4 BGT fans ripped into one 'shocking' semi-final act tonight Credit: Shutterstock Editorial The Taiwanese performer, who gained attention earlier in the series for his comedic renditions of Queen songs, returned to the BGT stage to perform a medley using the toys as instruments. While judge Amanda Holden appeared amused, even standing up at the end of his set, Simon Cowell, Bruno Tonioli and Alesha Dixon gave him the red buzzer. And fans watching at home weren't won over either, sharing their frustration over his inclusion in the semi-finals. One wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "Why the f**k would you put that through of actual talented people, make it make sense because that was fucking shocking. You judges put it though, d**kheads #bgt." more on Britain's Got Talent Someone else said: "Is this what #BGT #BritainsGotTalent has come too, someone squeezing rubber chickens!!!" A third raged: "How the hell did this guy, with squeaky toys, get through to the semi finals? #BritainsGotTalent #bgt." One more fumed: "This could quite possibly be the WORST Semi Final act I've ever seen #BGT." Their frustration didn't end there. Most read in Reality Earlier in the show, bored fans The cast of Come Alive! The Greatest Showman Circus Spectacular kicked off proceedings - but not all viewers were left happy. Bored Britain's Got Talent fans slam segment saying it's been 'done to death' and insist show 'needs to move on' One viewer wrote on X: "I said this last year. The Greatest showman has been done to death already!! "BGT needs to come up with a new thing!!!" Another added: "I know the other judges mock Simon and his Greatest Showman obsession in their private group chat." While a third chimed in: "Every year there's stuff from this musical." A fourth shared: "#BGT can Simon Cowell not move on from the Greatest Showman." Meanwhile, competing for spots in the final were Hear Our Voice, IDOLLS, Papi Bucket, TK Magic, Joseph Charm, Maya Giotea, Max Fox and Obsequious. Britain's Got Talent airs on ITV1 and ITVX. Timeline of BGT Winners Britain's Got Talent has been thrilling fans since it burst onto the scene in 2007. Here we take a look at all the 2007: Paul Potts - The first ever winner of BGT was opera singer 2008: George Sampson - In series two of Britain's Got Talent a young 2009: Diversity - Dance troupe 2010 - Spellbound: Gymnastic troupe Spellbound really impressed judge 2011 - Jai McDowall: Viewers were stunned when 2012 - Ashleigh and Pudsy: 2013 - Attraction: Hungarian shadow artist group Attraction won the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent. The squad had taken part in the German version of BGT in 2012, however, they had only placed seventh. 2014 - Collabro: Classical music band 2015 - Jules O'Dwyer & Matisse: Dog lovers everywhere could't get enough of Jules O'Dwyer and pet pup Matisse. The impressive duo even performed on a tightrope to secure their win. 2016 - Richard Jones: Army man 2017 - Tokio Myers: Pianist 2018 - Lost Voice Guy: Stand-up comedian 2019 - Colin Thackery: Veteran army officer 2020 - Jon Courtenay: Singer and pianist 2022 - Axel Blake: Comedian 2023 - Viggo Venn: Known for his high-vis jackets, comedian 2024 - Sydnie Christmas: The reigning champ is singer 4 Novelty act Papi performs tracks using squeaky rubber chickens Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 4 He returned to the BGT stage to perform a medley using the toys as instruments Credit: Shutterstock Editorial 4 Simon Cowell, Bruno Tonioli and Alesha Dixon gave him the red buzzer Credit: ITV
