For most of the past decade, the streaming business was defined by a single, deceptively simple premise: more content equals more subscribers. Platforms raced to outspend one another, greenlighting volume at unprecedented levels, compressing windows, and treating exclusivity as an absolute virtue. That era is over. By 2025, the streaming industry reached a quieter but more consequential conclusion: content alone
The 2025 film markets delivered a consistent message across continents and calendars. Sundance tested demand. Cannes refined presales. TIFF amplified select winners. AFM clarified the new floor. Together, they confirmed that the industry is not rebounding to its old shape. It is stabilizing at a smaller, more disciplined scale. Fewer films will move. Fewer territories will matter. Fewer buyers will
Hollywood spent 2025 pretending it was in a cyclical downturn. It is not. The business is reorganizing under a harsher premise: fewer buyers, fewer viable windows, and less tolerance for anything that doesn’t behave like a franchise asset. The result is an ineluctable narrowing of the market—one that punishes independents, rewards scale, and converts distribution into a political and financial
Hollywood is no longer shaped by audience demand but by competing political blocs and foreign capital. Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid for Warner Bros. triggered immediate scrutiny, with President Trump signaling he would “be involved” as regulators examine the streamer’s expanding market power. Within hours, Paramount, backed by Larry Ellison, RedBird, Gulf sovereign funds, and Jared Kushner, countered with a hostile $77.9 billion all-cash bid.
Warner Bros. Discovery is barreling toward its fourth ownership change in seven years, a span marked by extraordinary value destruction, unchecked executive churn, and an industry unwilling—or unable—to confront the structural failures hollowing out the U.S. media sector. Instead of stabilizing long-term businesses, these megadeals have become vehicles for a handful of executives, financiers, and political allies to trade century-old
December 28, 2025Comments Off on Streaming, Windowing, and the New Access Economy: Why Control Beats Content in 2026
For most of the past decade, the streaming business was defined by a single, deceptively simple premise: more content equals more subscribers. Platforms raced to outspend one another, greenlighting volume at unprecedented levels, compressing windows, and treating exclusivity as an absolute virtue. That era is over. By 2025, the streaming industry reached a quieter but more consequential conclusion: content alone does not create value—access does.
December 20, 2025Comments Off on The 2025 Film Markets Reality Check: Cannes, Sundance, TIFF, and AFM Under a Tighter Rulebook
The 2025 film markets delivered a consistent message across continents and calendars. Sundance tested demand. Cannes refined presales. TIFF amplified select winners. AFM clarified the new floor. Together, they confirmed that the industry is not rebounding to its old shape. It is stabilizing at a smaller, more disciplined scale. Fewer films will move. Fewer territories will matter. Fewer buyers will decide outcomes.
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December 28, 2025Comments Off on Streaming, Windowing, and the New Access Economy: Why Control Beats Content in 2026
For most of the past decade, the streaming business was defined by a single, deceptively simple premise: more content equals more subscribers. Platforms raced to outspend one another, greenlighting volume at unprecedented levels, compressing windows, and treating exclusivity as an absolute virtue. That era is over. By 2025, the streaming industry reached a quieter but more consequential conclusion: content alone does not create value—access does.
December 20, 2025Comments Off on The 2025 Film Markets Reality Check: Cannes, Sundance, TIFF, and AFM Under a Tighter Rulebook
The 2025 film markets delivered a consistent message across continents and calendars. Sundance tested demand. Cannes refined presales. TIFF amplified select winners. AFM clarified the new floor. Together, they confirmed that the industry is not rebounding to its old shape. It is stabilizing at a smaller, more disciplined scale. Fewer films will move. Fewer territories will matter. Fewer buyers will decide outcomes.
December 14, 2025Comments Off on Film Distribution in 2025: Consolidation, Content Austerity, and Shrinking Leverage
Hollywood spent 2025 pretending it was in a cyclical downturn. It is not. The business is reorganizing under a harsher premise: fewer buyers, fewer viable windows, and less tolerance for anything that doesn’t behave like a franchise asset. The result is an ineluctable narrowing of the market—one that punishes independents, rewards scale, and converts distribution into a political and financial instrument as much as a commercial one.
December 9, 2025Comments Off on The Fight to Control Warner: Ellison’s Power Project vs. Netflix’s Strategic Ambition
Hollywood is no longer shaped by audience demand but by competing political blocs and foreign capital. Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid for Warner Bros. triggered immediate scrutiny, with President Trump signaling he would “be involved” as regulators examine the streamer’s expanding market power. Within hours, Paramount, backed by Larry Ellison, RedBird, Gulf sovereign funds, and Jared Kushner, countered with a hostile $77.9 billion all-cash bid.
November 29, 2025Comments Off on Hollywood for Sale (Again): Political Favor, Regulatory Blindness, and the High-Cost Collapse of Legacy Media
Warner Bros. Discovery is barreling toward its fourth ownership change in seven years, a span marked by extraordinary value destruction, unchecked executive churn, and an industry unwilling—or unable—to confront the structural failures hollowing out the U.S. media sector. Instead of stabilizing long-term businesses, these megadeals have become vehicles for a handful of executives, financiers, and political allies to trade century-old cultural institutions like poker chips.
June 28, 2025Comments Off on Will California’s $750 Million Film Incentive Revive Production or Reward Studios?
In a long-awaited move, California lawmakers have approved a dramatic expansion of the state’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program, more than doubling the annual cap from $330 million to $750 million.
February 10, 2025Comments Off on Paramount’s New Slate Financing Deal and the Complexities of Film Investment
Paramount Pictures has recently entered into a significant slate financing agreement with Domain Capital Group, aiming to bolster its film production capabilities. This partnership reflects a strategic move to mitigate financial risk by diversifying investments across multiple films. However, the intricate nature of such deals has historically led to legal disputes, particularly concerning the transparency of financial practices.
The FilmTake Advance Index compiles and enhances documented minimum guarantee deals across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America—directly drawn from hundreds of independent and mid-budget films representing over over 1,300 territorial distribution arrangements worldwide.
October 29, 2023Comments Off on Worldwide Film & Television Distribution Intelligence
Go inside dozens of content agreements for rights to transmit motion pictures and episodic television in multiple exhibition windows via PayTV and SVOD in Europe, Latin America, Canada, and the United States.
December 20, 2025Comments Off on The 2025 Film Markets Reality Check: Cannes, Sundance, TIFF, and AFM Under a Tighter Rulebook
The 2025 film markets delivered a consistent message across continents and calendars. Sundance tested demand. Cannes refined presales. TIFF amplified select winners. AFM clarified the new floor. Together, they confirmed that the industry is not rebounding to its old shape. It is stabilizing at a smaller, more disciplined scale. Fewer films will move. Fewer territories will matter. Fewer buyers will decide outcomes.
December 14, 2025Comments Off on Film Distribution in 2025: Consolidation, Content Austerity, and Shrinking Leverage
Hollywood spent 2025 pretending it was in a cyclical downturn. It is not. The business is reorganizing under a harsher premise: fewer buyers, fewer viable windows, and less tolerance for anything that doesn’t behave like a franchise asset. The result is an ineluctable narrowing of the market—one that punishes independents, rewards scale, and converts distribution into a political and financial instrument as much as a commercial one.
December 9, 2025Comments Off on The Fight to Control Warner: Ellison’s Power Project vs. Netflix’s Strategic Ambition
Hollywood is no longer shaped by audience demand but by competing political blocs and foreign capital. Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid for Warner Bros. triggered immediate scrutiny, with President Trump signaling he would “be involved” as regulators examine the streamer’s expanding market power. Within hours, Paramount, backed by Larry Ellison, RedBird, Gulf sovereign funds, and Jared Kushner, countered with a hostile $77.9 billion all-cash bid.
November 29, 2025Comments Off on Hollywood for Sale (Again): Political Favor, Regulatory Blindness, and the High-Cost Collapse of Legacy Media
Warner Bros. Discovery is barreling toward its fourth ownership change in seven years, a span marked by extraordinary value destruction, unchecked executive churn, and an industry unwilling—or unable—to confront the structural failures hollowing out the U.S. media sector. Instead of stabilizing long-term businesses, these megadeals have become vehicles for a handful of executives, financiers, and political allies to trade century-old cultural institutions like poker chips.
November 18, 2025Comments Off on AFM 2025 Review: Markets Reinvigorated, Deals Reshaped, and Distribution Reset
As the American Film Market wrapped at the Fairmont Century Plaza, the prevailing sentiment was unmistakable: relief. After four locations in four years—Santa Monica, virtual, Las Vegas—the independent business finally had a market that functioned, flowed, and felt worthy of the work being done inside it.
