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Paramount Global (PARA) Drops Transformers: EarthSpark Teaser

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Paramount Global (PARA - Free Report) -owned streaming service, Paramount+, along with Nickelodeon and Hasbro's Entertainment One (eOne), recently dropped the official trailer of their upcoming animated series Transformers: EarthSpark at the final day of New York Comic Con (NYCC) 2022.

Nickelodeon first announced Transformers: EarthSpark in February 2022. However, the animated series later moved to Paramount+. The animated television series is set against the backdrop of a civil war between Autobots and Decepticons, from the ashes of which emerges a new breed of Transformers called Terrans, which are the first Transformers robots to be born on Earth.

Thirteen years old Robby Malto (Sydney Mikayla) and his 9-year-old sister Mo (Zion Broadnax) soon become friends with the Terrans, even adopting two of their number, Twitch (Kathreen Khavari) and Thrash (Zeno Robinson), as part of their family. Aside from Mandroid's schemes, Robby, Mo, Twitch and Thrash will reportedly have to contend with fan-favorite villain Megatron, brought to life by Game of Thrones veteran Rory McCann.

Transformers: EarthSpark is also confirmed to feature several of the franchise's most iconic heroes, including Optimus Prime and Bumblebee. Resident Alien star Alan Tudyk will voice Optimus, marking his second appearance in the world of Transformers, having previously appeared in a supporting role in the 2011 live-action film Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Meanwhile, Bumblebee's vocals will come courtesy of Mythic Quest's Danny Pudi, taking over from the Autobot's most recent performer, Joe Zieja who played the part in 2020's Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy. Other familiar faces locked for Transformers: EarthSpark include Wheeljack, Arcee, Skullcruncher, Swindle and Soundwave. However, none of the actors are officially attached to these roles at this stage.

Transformers: EarthSpark will arrive on Paramount+ on Nov 11, 2022. The first 10 episodes of the premiere season will be available to stream exclusively on Paramount+ in the United States and Canada.

Original Kids and Family Programming Holds Promise

Transformers: EarthSpark forms part of Paramount's ongoing efforts to boost the franchise's presence on both the big and small screens. Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have declined 52.6% in the past year compared with the Zacks Media Conglomerates industry’s decline of 39.4% and the Consumer Discretionary sector’s decline of 43.3%.

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Transformers: Earthspark joins the growing lineup of original and kids programming at Paramount+, including Star Trek: Prodigy, Rugrats, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years, and Big Nate, as well as  Secret Headquarters, Rumble, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, The J Team, Paw Patrol: The Movie, and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

In February 2022, the studio announced that its forthcoming film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is actually the first installment in a trilogy of movies based on the popular Beast Wars toyline and tie-in media. Paramount also confirmed that an animated Transformers feature is currently in the works and is slated to arrive in cinemas in 2024.

A new era of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-mania takes over in 2023, with a new animated take on the Turtles coming to theaters. Nickelodeon Animation will fast follow it up with a series of exclusive movies for Paramount+ beginning in 2023, each centering on one of the property’s storied villains in never-before-told tales.

Strategic Business Tie-Ups and Partnerships to Aid Growth

Over the last few years, the company has been focusing on its global expansion. To cater to its goal, Paramount Global has been steadily expanding its partner base and is undertaking accretive acquisitions to boost the top line.

In March, Paramount Global entered into an agreement with Avid Technology wherein Paramount’s production teams in Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States would be able to create content on the open Avid MediaCentral production platform, Avid Media Composer software and the Avid NEXIS media storage.

Avid’s managed platform, which is delivered on Microsoft’s (MSFT - Free Report) Azure, supports a content management platform, shared storage and video editing tools. Avid renewed its strategic alliance with Microsoft in May 2020 to develop and deploy its cloud-based solutions on Microsoft Azure.

On Aug 3, Paramount Global and Roku (ROKU - Free Report) announced that Paramount+ would be launched as a premium subscription within The Roku Channel later in the month. This will make Paramount+ critically acclaimed originals, hit movies, a world-class library of popular series, 24/7 news and marquee sports, accessible directly to consumers within The Roku Channel.


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