Deadline has confirmed that former Paramount co-CEO Brian Robbins is launching a new family production company dedicated to animated and live-action productions. CAA, Sony, and other financiers are supporting it; however, Sony is only a minor investor. Deadline has also confirmed that the total sum raised for the new production is around $100 million.

Robbins will shepherd content for YouTube and other short-form platforms to evolve them into feature film IP that Sony will theatrically release. There is an idea that streaming analytics will be a better indicator and incubator for big-screen potential products. Sony, along with other parties have not finalized any deals yet.

Awesomness TV is a YouTube channel and multi-network channel created by Robbins in 2012, which was also aimed at Gen Z. He sold it to DreamWorks Animation in 2013. After Universal absorbed DWA, Awesomeness ended up back at Viacom, where Robbins was working.

Robbins became President of Paramount Players films in 2017 before becoming President of Nickelodeon in 2018. In September 2021, Robbins took over Jim Gianopulos’s role as Paramount’s Chairman and CEO. During his time, he revived Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as an animated film and the Paw Patrol movies, which made more than $2.5 billion in consumer products revenue in 2023 alone. In April 2024, he was made co-CEO of Paramount alongside George Cheeks and Chris McCarthy as the studio was being looked at by David Ellison’s Skydance for acquisition.

Deadline reports that during Robbins’ exit from Paramount, he assembled financiers to kick the tires at Lionsgate for a possible acquisition. They also report that the executive and his partners passed on that opportunity.