Realigning its divisions, Paramount Pictures has effectively shut down Paramount Players, merging the arm under the leadership of Motion Picture Group co-heads Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland.
Jeremy Kramer is stepping down as president of Players.
“Partnering with our filmmakers across a range of genres and budgets is critical to our studio’s vibrancy and our business’ long-term success,” said Paramount Pictures president and CEO Brian Robbins in a statement. “In uniting Paramount Players within the larger Motion Picture Group, our goal is to optimize the power of one division to scale the expertise and skill set of an incredibly talented team of executives under Daria and Mike.”
In the shuffle, Ashley Brucks has been appointed senior executive vp and head of development, Paramount Players, while Vanessa Joyce and Jonathan Gonda have been promoted to executive vps of development and production.
Players was launched by Robbins in 2017 with the focus on adapting existing IP from Paramount brands like Nickelodeon and BET and turning them into feature films. Robbins departed the label in 2018, less than a year after its founding, when he was tapped to run the company’s then-struggling kids network Nickelodeon.
Players functioned without a head until Kramer was brought in by former 20th Century Fox boss Emma Watts, the then-president of the motion picture group. (Watts exited the studio in September 2021 after Jim Gianopulos was ousted as the CEO and chairman of Paramount Pictures in favor of Robbins.)
As a studio label, Players’ track record was spotty. Its first film, the Tiffany Haddish starrer Nobody’s Fool, was produced by Tyler Perry and grossed a disappointing $33 million at the box office. The label’s biggest success was the live-action Dora the Explorer movie, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, which grossed nearly $120 million. Other Players titles include John Cena starrer Playing With Fire and the Paranormal Activity installment Next of Kin.
Players, however, has a very active slate that will not be depleted anytime soon. Among the projects are Apartment 7A, starring Julia Garner and being produced by John Krasinski and Michael Bay; On the Come Up, an adaptation of Angie Thomas’ best-selling follow-up book to The Hate U Give, with Sanaa Lathan making her directorial debut; and the sci-fi thriller Significant Other starring Maika Monroe and Jake Lacy.
Those projects are being developed in concert with Paramount proper, which is focusing on franchise fare such as Transformers and Mission: Impossible; Sandra Bullock’s upcoming The Lost City; a sequel to the hit CGI/live-action hybrid film Sonic the Hedgehog; and the adventure epic Dungeons & Dragons, among others.
“This is the start of a new chapter for the Paramount Motion Picture Group,” said Cercek and Ireland in a statement. “Ashley, Jon and Vanessa are standout executives, and their promotions are well-deserved. At Players, Jeremy has assembled a strong team and this newly combined group is going to energize our efforts to make smart, fun, commercial movies across a wide range of budgets and genres.”
In the announcing the shuffle, Robbins had words of gratitude to his departing head: “Over the last couple of years, Jeremy has played an integral role in further establishing Players as a youthful, entrepreneurial production arm throughout the industry and within our own company, and I want to thank him for all of his contributions and leadership.”
Source: Hollywood
