Year: 2026

Production

Netflix’s AI Bet on the Future of Film Production Technology

March 6, 2026 FilmTake Comments Off on Netflix’s AI Bet on the Future of Film Production Technology

Netflix rarely acquires companies, making its purchase of AI filmmaking startup InterPositive particularly notable. Instead of pursuing large-scale studio consolidation, the streamer is investing in production technology designed to streamline filmmaking workflows. The move suggests the next phase of the streaming wars may be fought not through content libraries alone, but through the infrastructure behind how films are made.

Distribution

Why Portfolio Film Financing Is Reshaping Independent Film Investment

February 28, 2026 FilmTake Comments Off on Why Portfolio Film Financing Is Reshaping Independent Film Investment

The early 2026 film market cycle was not stalled; it was operating under a new financial logic. As capital shifts toward slate-based investment models, producers face a new reality in which repeatability, disciplined execution, and rights strategy increasingly determine access to funding, reshaping how independent films are packaged, financed, and positioned globally.

Distribution

Who Controls the Narrative? Ellison Empire Expands as Paramount Secures Warner in Hollywood Takeover

February 26, 2026 FilmTake Comments Off on Who Controls the Narrative? Ellison Empire Expands as Paramount Secures Warner in Hollywood Takeover

Following Netflix’s decision not to match Paramount’s revised $31-per-share all-company offer, Paramount stands poised, pending regulatory rubberstamping, to absorb Warner Bros., HBO, and a portfolio of cable networks including CNN, TNT, and TBS, effectively reshaping the ownership topology of legacy Hollywood.

Distribution

EFM 2026 After the Applause: Attendance Up, Deals Down, and the Industry’s Slow-Motion Correction

February 18, 2026 FilmTake Comments Off on EFM 2026 After the Applause: Attendance Up, Deals Down, and the Industry’s Slow-Motion Correction

Berlin’s European Film Market closed with rising attendance, expanded programming, and a visible industry presence that reinforced its role as the year’s first global convening point. Yet behind those activity metrics, tangible deal momentum remained comparatively thin.

Distribution

EFM 2026 Analysis: How Capital, AI, and IP Strategy Are Shaping Film Dealmaking

February 14, 2026 FilmTake Comments Off on EFM 2026 Analysis: How Capital, AI, and IP Strategy Are Shaping Film Dealmaking

EFM arrives at a moment when the global film and television business is no longer in freefall, but it is no longer forgiving either; it has found its floor. Commissioning remains at roughly three-quarters of peak-TV highs. Streamer spending continues, but without the frenzy of prior years. Europe’s broadcasters remain constrained. The result is not contraction, but constraint.

Distribution

First Real Market Test of 2026: What EFM Signals for the New Deal Cycle

February 10, 2026 FilmTake Comments Off on First Real Market Test of 2026: What EFM Signals for the New Deal Cycle

The European Film Market (EFM) returns to Berlin February 12–18, 2026, and this year’s message is unusually clear: the business isn’t “back” in any nostalgic sense—but it is moving, and in more directions than it has in the past two years. EFM’s expanded 2026 programme is a signal about where business development is headed.

Distribution

Who Wins in 2026? Survivors, Losers, and the Strategies That Still Work

February 4, 2026 FilmTake Comments Off on Who Wins in 2026? Survivors, Losers, and the Strategies That Still Work

As Sundance wrapped with more films seeking homes than landing deals, and EFM looms as the first major sales test of the year, the question is no longer who has the best film, but who is best aligned with today’s market. 2026 will reward scale, discipline, and precision, and punish nostalgia for a business that no longer exists.

Exhibition

Broken Box Office: Fewer Films, Higher Prices, and a Streaming-First Approach That No Longer Needs Theaters

January 4, 2026 FilmTake Comments Off on Broken Box Office: Fewer Films, Higher Prices, and a Streaming-First Approach That No Longer Needs Theaters

Hollywood continues to frame the post-lockdown box office slump as a temporary dislocation, thus a function of strikes, scheduling gaps, or audiences that need to be “retrained” to return to theaters. That explanation is convenient. It is also incomplete. What the industry is confronting is not just an economic contraction, but a cultural rejection. Moviegoing has become more expensive, more politicized, less comfortable, and overall, less rewarding.