It’s April, which means that the Duffer Brothers‘ decade-long tenure at Netflix has come to an end and they are moving to Paramount with a four-year, exclusive deal for feature films, television, and streaming projects. Paramount wasted no time showing off the Stranger Things creators in the studio’s glitzy, big-budget mini-movie celebrating its movie history and looking at the future.
The elaborate promo, directed by Jon M. Chu and narrated by Tom Cruise, was shown Wednesday at the top of Paramount’s presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas and hours later at the start of the company’s upfront presentation in Los Angeles. In it, the Duffers appear alongside other talent signed to overall or first-look deals by the new Paramount regime over the past eight months, including James Mangold, Issa Rae, Dan Trachtenberg and Will Smith, as well as other A-listers who have movies at the studio, including Timothée Chalamet, Mark Wahlberg, Chris Pratt, Marlon Wayans, John Krasinski, Teyana Taylor and Johnny Knoxville. Some of them are woven into famous Paramount movies, like Chalamet, who is taking a piece of chocolate from the Forrest Gump box left on the famous bench from the movie.
The Duffer Brothers are seen sitting in a dark movie theater, eating popcorn. Top director Jerry Bruckheimer leans in and says, “This is my favorite part.”
Whether it was intentional or not, the Duffers’ scene carries significance as it celebrates the theatrical experience. As Deadline has reported, Paramount being able to offer the duo the opportunity to work on theatrical movies was one of the keys for them to chose it over staying at streamer Netflix. They spoke about that and Paramount’s long history — which is the focus of the sizzle video — in their statement at the time the deal was announced in August.
“David [Ellison], Josh [Goldstine], and Dana [Goldberg] are passionate about bringing bold, original films to the big screen,” Matt and Ross Duffer said at the time. “To be part of that mission is not just exciting – it’s the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. And to do so at a studio with such a storied Hollywood legacy is a privilege we don’t take lightly.”
Chu’s fast-pace video ends with Missing Impossible and Top Gun star Cruise sitting on top of Paramount Studios’ water tower looking over Los Angeles, as his voiceover says, “The future is paramount and the future looks pretty great from here.”
Fitting for the famous daredevil, the stunt was reportedly performed by Cruise and was not the result of green screen magic.
