Sony’s Tom Rothman On Skydance-Paramount Deal, Calls David Ellison “A Very Capable Executive” – ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ Premiere

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

“There might have been other scenarios that could have played out in other ways, but this seems to be currently the scenario for the moment.”

Those were Sony Pictures Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman‘s thoughts tonight when Deadline asked him at the NYC premiere of Apple’s Fly Me to the Moon for his take on the big news going around town, read the pending $8 billion Skydance–Paramount deal.

Sony Pictures Entertainment teamed with Apollo to make a $26 billion go at Paramount Global, signing an NDA in mid-May. Those talks didn’t make as much noise as Skydance’s courtship of Paramount Global. The notion is that Sony’s pursuit of Paramount would be embattled by government regulations which prohibit a foreign company from having any ownership of a U.S. Broadcast network.

However, despite all directions pointing toward a Skydance-Paramount Global deal, there’s still that 45-day go-shop period for a better offer to emerge. If one comes to fruition, Skydance will get a hefty $400 million breakup fee from Paramount. 

Continued Rothman tonight, “The only thing I will say, I have great respect for David Ellison and I think he is a very capable executive, and if it ends up going that way in the end, in the end, I’m sure he’ll do a fine job.” Once the Skydance Paramount Global deal is approved, the expectation being later in 2025, Ellison becomes the new Chairman and CEO of the new corporation.

Unlike Paramount which has been saddled with debt from launching streaming service Paramount+, Sony remains an arms dealer, and financially nimble studio. The Culver City lot is distributing the Greg Berlanti directed romantic comedy Fly Me to the Moon which stars Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson and opens this Friday. The movie is one of three Apple Original Films that Sony won distribution deals for following Napoleon ($221.3M) and the Jon Watts directed George Clooney-Brad Pitt crime thriller Wolfs opening on Sept. 20.

Fly Me to the Moon is the second big, starry romantic comedy for Sony post pandemic following their profitable, $220M-plus grossing Syndey Sweeney-Glen Powell title Anyone But You which played over the holidays. While streaming has dominated the rom-com genre, Rothman doesn’t believe the female moviegoing audience for those titles have been lost.

“My take is if you build it, they will come. They can’t go to movies that don’t exist,” Rothman told Deadline at Manhattan’s AMC Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

“Romantic comedies have been a perennial genre in the movies since The Philadelphia Story. They’re not going away,” he added.

“Great and kudos to Apple, this is a fun, classy film,” the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group Chairman and CEO said about Fly Me to the Moon, “The reviews are terrific for the movie and well deserved.”

Sony recently jumpstarted the sleepy summer box office with Bad Boys: Ride or Die which is approaching $180M stateside, $426.5M WW and has had a family hit in Alcon’s The Garfield Movie which stands at $91M in U.S./Canada, $245M WW.