Paramount+ sets August launch

Paramount+ will launch in Australia on Wednesday, 11 August 2021 at $8.99 per month.

The new streaming service from ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand will place 10 All Access and feature content from Showtime, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, the Smithsonian Channel and Sony Pictures Television. Teasing over 20,000 episodes TV and movies they include The First Lady, Dexter, Anne Boleyn, Leonardo, The Godfather, Mission: Impossible and PAW Patrol.

Amongst the local titles will be Season 2 of Five Bedrooms starring Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacocke, Doris Younane, Roy Joseph, Katie Robertson and Hugh Sheridan, leaping into the property market having lost their first communal home at auction. It is yet to confirm if this will be the full season at launch.

Other local titles to come are Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals, commencing production soon (see below).

Beverley McGarvey, Chief Content Officer & Executive Vice President, ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand, said: “We can’t wait for Australians to stream Paramount+ and all the iconic ViacomCBS library content as well as premium local content including Five Bedrooms and upcoming titles Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals.

“Paramount+ has something for everyone. It will be home to the biggest names in entertainment, exclusive premium content and of course the most unique stories. Its expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies hail from world-renowned brands including Showtime, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, the Smithsonian Channel and Sony Pictures Television.

“We are poised to become as powerful a player in streaming as we are in television. By leveraging the iconic Paramount brand, leading edge infrastructure, along with an incredible super-sized pipeline of must-see content, Paramount+ will deliver an exceptional consumer entertainment experience.”

Produced by Northern Pictures and filmed in Melbourne, Spreadsheet is a comedy series about divorced, hectic mother-of-two, Lauren played by Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Doc Martin), who is looking for sex without commitment. With the help of best friend Alex, she develops “Spreadsheet”: a database of sex options, customised to ensure her sushi train of sex rolls around with variety and order amidst the chaos of her life. What Lauren didn’t expect was a slew of needy men, which apparently even a well-managed excel tracker can’t control. Spreadsheet has received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria. Five Bedrooms received major production investment from 10 ViacomCBS in association with Screen Australia and has been developed and produced with the assistance of Film Victoria.

Based on the best-selling autobiography of John Ibrahim and produced by Helium, Last King of The Cross is an operatic story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim, one worshipped by his father and the other scorned. In organising the street, they lose each other across their ascent to power. Coupled with a fractured sense of identity, culture and family, Sam and John discover that blood is thicker than water, but you can drown in both.

A coming-of-age feature film, 6 Festivals is about three 16-year-old best friends – Maxie, Summer and James. Running, in anger and denial, from the terminal illness James is facing, they bucket-list six music festivals over six months. Over their six- month journey they meet up-and-coming artist, Marley, whose own challenges and success will help them to accept the reality they so want to avoid. Backed by an impressive all-Australian soundtrack, 6 Festivals is produced by Invisible Republic and Hype Republic. 6 Festivals has received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Paramount+. Financed with support from Sony Music, with Boom Smash, Screen Canberra and Screen Queensland.

Audiences will also get new exclusive premieres, starring some of the world’s biggest stars including The First Lady (Viola Davis, Gillian Anderson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Aaron Eckhart, Dakota Fanning), Dexter (Michael C. Hall), The Gilded Age (Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon), Yellowjackets (Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci), Leonardo (Freddie Highmore, Aidan Turner), American Rust (Jeff Daniels, Maura Tierney), Two Weeks To Live (Maisie Williams), Coyote (Michael Chiklis, George Pullar), Mayor of Kingstown (Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest), Everyone Is Doing Great (James Lafferty, Stephen Colletti), Anne Boleyn (Jodie Turner-Smith), Spy City (Dominic Cooper), Monsterland (Taylor Schilling), The Luminaries (Eve Hewson, Erik Thomson, Ewen Leslie), The Harper House (Rhea Seehorn, Jason Lee), Guilty Party (Kate Beckinsale) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

Other exclusive titles to look forward to include Lioness, Halo, The Offer, Y:1883, Flatbush Misdemeanors, Stephen, Crossing Swords, Help, No Return, Line In The Sand and Ripley, along with riveting documentaries, Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell? and Four Hours at the Capitol.

For kids and families, Paramount+ will offer some of the biggest franchises in the world, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, and PAW Patrol, plus new originals based on Nickelodeon’s most beloved characters such as Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years.

If it’s blockbuster and classic films you’re after, Paramount+ will boast titles and movie franchises such as The Godfather, Mission: Impossible, Indiana Jones, Transformers, Jackass, Grease, Good Will Hunting, Harry Potter, Batman, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to name a few.

This selection of shows and movies will join existing offerings available on 10 All Access, which will be rebranded to Paramount+, from CBS, The CW and Network 10, as well as original series like The Good Fight, The Twilight Zone, Tooning Out The News, Interrogation, Why Women Kill, Charmed, A Million Little Things and Nancy Drew. Plus, CBSN’s 24/7 live news.