Editing Paramount Pictures (section)

===1994–2005: Dolgen/Lansing and "old" Viacom era===
In February 1994, [[Viacom (1952–2006)|Viacom]] acquired 50.1% of Paramount Communications Inc. shares for $9.75&nbsp;billion, following a five-month battle with [[QVC]], and completed the merger in July.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 15, 1994|page=A1|last=Fabrikant|first=Geraldine|title=Executives Say That Viacom Has Won Paramount Battle|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/15/business/executives-say-that-viacom-has-won-paramount-battle.html|access-date=August 15, 2020|archive-date=December 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218045123/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/15/business/executives-say-that-viacom-has-won-paramount-battle.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Annual Report|url=https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/44482/0000950112-94-002132.txt|website=[[U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission]]|access-date=March 7, 2016|archive-date=March 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308073121/http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/44482/0000950112-94-002132.txt|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=75 Power Players: The Outsiders|magazine=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=11|date=November 1995|page=61 |quote=Viacom completed acquisition of Paramount Communications in July 1994, creating one of the world's largest entertainment companies.}}</ref> At the time, Paramount's holdings included Paramount Pictures, [[Madison Square Garden]], the [[New York Rangers]], the [[New York Knicks]], and the [[Simon & Schuster]] publishing house.<ref name="Viacom">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/15/business/executives-say-that-viacom-has-won-paramount-battle.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=Executives Say That Viacom Has Won Paramount Battle|last=Fabrikant|first=Geraldine|date=February 15, 1994|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=May 21, 2012|archive-date=November 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114093059/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/15/business/executives-say-that-viacom-has-won-paramount-battle.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|url-status=live}}</ref> The deal had been planned as early as 1989, when the company was still known as Gulf and Western.<ref name="Delugach"/> Though Davis was named a member of the board of [[National Amusements]], which controlled Viacom, he ceased to manage the company.

During this time period, Paramount Pictures went under the guidance of chairman Jonathan Dolgen and president [[Sherry Lansing]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-17-fi-35287-story.html |title=Viacom to Name Jonathan Dolgen New Paramount Studio Head : Hollywood: The Sony Pictures executive will oversee movie and TV operations in a deal that is expected to be announced today. – latimes |date=March 18, 1994 |access-date=August 8, 2015 |first=Alan |last=Citron |archive-date=October 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010020512/http://articles.latimes.com/1994-03-17/business/fi-35287_1_sony-pictures |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sherrylansingfoundation.org/page.php?whPage=lansing.php |title=The Sherry Lansing Foundation |publisher=The Sherry Lansing Foundation |access-date=August 8, 2015 |archive-date=March 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150307062927/http://www.sherrylansingfoundation.org/page.php?whPage=lansing.php |url-status=live }}</ref> During their administration over Paramount, the studio had an extremely successful period of films with two of Paramount's ten highest-grossing films being produced during this period.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?view=company&view2=allrovis&studio=paramount.htm |title=Box Office by Studio: Paramount |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=January 7, 2010 |archive-date=February 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203140142/http://boxofficemojo.com/studio/chart/?view=company&view2=allrovis&studio=paramount.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The most successful of these films, ''[[Titanic (1997 film)|Titanic]]'', co-produced with [[20th Century Fox]] and [[Lightstorm Entertainment]], became the highest-grossing film up to that time, grossing over $1.8&nbsp;billion worldwide.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=titanic.htm |title=Titanic |website=Box Office Mojo |date=March 15, 1998 |access-date=January 7, 2010 |archive-date=March 21, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321035129/https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=titanic.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Also during this time, three Paramount Pictures films won the [[Academy Award]] for Best Picture; ''Titanic'', ''[[Braveheart]]'', and ''[[Forrest Gump]]''.

Paramount's most important property, however, was ''Star Trek''. Studio executives had begun to call it "the franchise" in the 1980s due to its reliable revenue, and other studios envied its "untouchable and unduplicatable" success. By 1998, ''Star Trek'' television shows, movies, books, videotapes, and licensing provided so much of the studio's profit that "it is not possible to spend any reasonable amount of time at Paramount and not be aware of [its] presence"; filming for ''Star Trek: Voyager'' and ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' required up to nine of the largest of the studio's 36 [[sound stage]]s.<ref name="meehan2005">{{cite book |title=Why TV is not our fault: television programming, viewers, and who's really in control |last=Meehan |first=Eileen R. |year=2005 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |page=93 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SEtw4yGRjwUC&q=%22star%20trek%22%20%22the%20franchise%22%20paramount&pg=PA93 |isbn=0-7425-2486-8 |access-date=November 7, 2020 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309155706/https://books.google.com/books?id=SEtw4yGRjwUC&q=%22star+trek%22+%22the+franchise%22+paramount&pg=PA93 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="poe1998">{{cite book |title=A Vision of the Future |last=Poe |first=Stephen Edward |year=1998 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=0-671-53481-5}}</ref>{{rp|49–50,54}}

In 1995, Viacom and [[Chris-Craft Industries]]' [[BHC Communications#United Television|United Television]] launched [[UPN|United Paramount Network]] (UPN) with ''Star Trek: Voyager'' as its flagship series, fulfilling Barry Diller's plan for a Paramount network from 25 years earlier. In 1999, Viacom bought out United Television's interests, and handed responsibility for the start-up network to the newly acquired [[CBS]] unit, which Viacom bought in 2000 – an ironic confluence of events as Paramount had once invested in CBS, and Viacom had once been the syndication arm of CBS, as well.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Croteau|first1=David|last2=Hoynes|first2=William|title=The business of media : corporate media and the public interest|year=2006|publisher=Pine Forge|location=Thousand Oaks|isbn=1-4129-1315-2|edition=2nd|page=85|chapter=3}}</ref> During this period the studio acquired some 30 television stations to support the UPN network, also acquiring and merging in the assets of Republic Pictures, Spelling Television and Viacom Productions, almost doubling the size of the studio's television library. The television division produced the dominant prime time show for the decade in ''Frasier'', as well as such long running hits as ''NCIS'' and ''Becker'' and the dominant prime time magazine show ''Entertainment Tonight.'' Paramount also gained the ownership rights to the [[Rysher Entertainment|Rysher]] library, after Viacom acquired the rights from [[Cox Enterprises]].

During this period, Paramount and its related subsidiaries and affiliates, operating under the name "Viacom Entertainment Group" also included the fourth largest group of theme parks in the United States and Canada which in addition to traditional rides and attractions launched numerous successful location-based entertainment units including a long running "Star Trek" attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton. Famous Music – the company's celebrated music publishing arm almost doubled in size and developed artists including Pink, Bush, and Green Day, as well as catalog favorites including Duke Ellington and Henry Mancini. The Paramount/Viacom licensing group under the leadership of [[Tom McGrath (media executive)|Tom McGrath]] created the "Cheers" franchise bars and restaurants and a chain of restaurants borrowing from the studio's Academy Award-winning film ''Forrest Gump'' – ''The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company''. Through the combined efforts of Famous Music and the studio over ten "Broadway" musicals were created including Irving Berlin's ''White Christmas'', ''Footloose, Saturday Night Fever'', [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s ''Sunset Boulevard'' among others. The company's international arm, United International Pictures (UIP), was the dominant distributor internationally for ten straight years representing Paramount, Universal and MGM. Simon and Schuster became part of the Viacom Entertainment Group emerging as the United States' dominant trade book publisher.

In 2002, Paramount; along with [[Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures|Buena Vista Distribution]], [[20th Century Fox]], [[Sony Pictures|Sony Pictures Entertainment]], [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM/UA Entertainment]], [[Universal Studios, Inc.|Universal Studios]], [[DreamWorks Pictures]], [[Artisan Entertainment]], [[Lionsgate|Lions Gate Entertainment]], and [[Warner Bros.]] formed the [[Digital Cinema Initiatives]]. Operating under a waiver from the antitrust law, the studios combined under the leadership of Paramount Chief Operating Officer [[Tom McGrath (media executive)|Tom McGrath]] to develop technical standards for the eventual introduction of digital film projection – replacing the now 100-year-old film technology.<ref name="dcimovies.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.dcimovies.com/ |title=Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) November&nbsp;20, 2008 ERRATA TO DCI DIGITAL CINEMA SYSTEM SPECIFICATION, VERSION 1.2 |publisher=Dcimovies.com |access-date=January 7, 2010 |archive-date=February 20, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220165719/http://www.dcimovies.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> DCI was created "to establish and document voluntary specifications for an open architecture for digital cinema that ensures a uniform and high level of technical performance, reliability and quality control."<ref name="dcimovies.com" /> McGrath also headed up Paramount's initiative for the creation and launch of the Blu-ray Disc.