Nickelodeon President Brian Robbins To Take Over Paramount Pictures

Nickelodeon President Brian Robbins To Take Over Paramount Pictures

Brian Robbins, the president and CEO of Nickelodeon, is getting a promotion: he is expected to  replace Jim Gianopulos, 69, who has headed Paramount since 2017 and take over as chairman and chief executive of Paramount Pictures. (Both Nick and Paramount Pictures are owned by ViacomCBS.)

The Brooklyn native began his career as a child actor in the 1980s, including in an ABC sitcom, “Head of the Class.” And he directed the eight-time Razzie-nominated Eddie Murphy comedy Norbit, created the Nick series All That, executive-produced tv shows like Smallville and Kenan and Kel, co-founded the online media company Awesomeness (which was later acquired by Dreamworks Animation), and oversaw Paramount Players, a production division of Paramount Pictures. His career, which spans TV, film directing and digital media, helped make him a favored candidate within ViacomCBS.

Robbins is no stranger to Paramount. Before he joined Nickelodeon, he was head of Paramount Players, a unit of the studio created to mine Viacom cable brands such as MTV and Nickelodeon for film projects. ViacomCBS chair Shari Redstone is “impressed with Mr. Robbins’ producing chops and his ability to tap into younger audiences.” Both attributes are important as ViacomCBS builds out its Paramount+ streaming service.Robbins, an executive with chops honed in the worlds of digital entertainment and traditional film and television, is an ideal candidate for the job as ViacomCBS looks to the storied Paramount studio to help expand streaming services such as Paramount+.

Robbins is described as a modern and forward-thinking entertainment executive, willing to try out new ways of doing things and listening to employees’ ideas.He‘s more willing to embrace the digital revolution in Hollywood. Robbins is widely credited with the success of “Paw Patrol: The Movie,” based on the Nickelodeon show of the same name, which drove significant sign-ups to Paramount+ when it recently premiered on the platform at the same time as its theatrical release.