The hierarchy of power in the entertainment industry is about to change. 10 months after Netflix announced it had acquired Warner Bros. Discovery and just eight months after the big red N gave Warner Bros. the ol’ “That’s all folks” and peaced out of the deal amid a slurry of increasingly lucrative bids from Paramount Skydance, it’s finally official: Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery’s mega merger, valued at a reported $111 billion, is complete, with the two major Hollywood studios now set to operate under David Ellison’s Skydance banner.
With the closing of this historic merger, which has been subject to intense legal — and public as well as industry-wide — scrutiny in recent months, the likes of DC Comics, Harry Potter, Hanna-Barbera, Game Of Thrones, HBO (and HBO Max), Paramount+, New Line, CNN, CBS, Nickelodeon, and much, much more besides all now fall under the Skydance umbrella, making the company a new superpower in Hollywood.
“Today is a historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry,” said From the start, our ambition was to bring these two storied studios together and create a stronger competitor, with the talent, resources, and reach to tell great stories in every genre, on every platform, for audiences everywhere,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said in a statement accompanying news that shares in Skydance will officially hit the New York Stock Exchange today. “Now that ambition is a reality. We’re grateful to everyone who made this possible – the employees, creative talent, and production teams of both companies, who worked tirelessly to get us here and inspire audiences around the world every day, as well as the advisors and partners who guided this transaction to completion. Our focus now turns to the future: building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders. We couldn’t be more excited to get to work.”
As we reported earlier this week, Ellison has made several massively consequential promises to get the Paramount-Warner merger over the line and satisfy the legal disputes brought by no less than 12 state attorney generals and the Writers Guild Of America. Among those promises is a commitment from Ellison that at least 30 movies will be put into theatres in 2027 and 2028, rising to 32 between 2029 and 2031, with 45-day exclusive theatrical windows and a 90-day moratorium on streaming premieres from the date of any given movie’s cinema release. It remains to be seen however where — if indeed anywhere — that commitment leaves space for the production of mid-budget movies such as Weapons and Sinners of the world — especially given Paramount’s agreement to a $30 million fine for each movie short it falls of that initial 30-32 film commitment.
Suffice it to say, lots of questions still surround this merger, even now the ink has dried on the deal itself. As ever though, your friendly neighbourhood Empire will be around to consider and wrestle with the answers as and when we get them, so stay tuned for more on this still-developing story in the weeks and months to come.
