Paramount Skydance

Distribution

Film Distribution in 2025: Consolidation, Content Austerity, and Shrinking Leverage

December 14, 2025 FilmTake Comments 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.

Distribution

The Fight to Control Warner: Ellison’s Power Project vs. Netflix’s Strategic Ambition

December 9, 2025 FilmTake Comments 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.

Distribution

Hollywood for Sale (Again): Political Favor, Regulatory Blindness, and the High-Cost Collapse of Legacy Media

November 29, 2025 FilmTake Comments 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.

Distribution

Paramount’s Identity Crisis: Massive Layoffs, Creative Exodus, and Strategic Uncertainty

November 5, 2025 FilmTake Comments Off on Paramount’s Identity Crisis: Massive Layoffs, Creative Exodus, and Strategic Uncertainty

What was sold as a revitalization appears to many, both inside and outside the company, as a high-risk restructuring that may strip Paramount of the very assets that once justified the deal. The comparison made by several veterans suggests that this has the makings of another Bronfman-era playbook: big promises, bigger checks, and a costly pursuit of scale that can leave the core business weaker.

Distribution

From Blockbusters to Bust: Why the Film Industry Isn’t Bouncing Back

November 2, 2025 FilmTake Comments Off on From Blockbusters to Bust: Why the Film Industry Isn’t Bouncing Back

When the cinema lights go down and the credits roll, it becomes clear that the major studio theatrical business is no longer a reliable growth engine. Yes, the occasional billion-dollar franchise still lands. But beneath the surface lies a shrinking marketplace, fewer wide releases, and an exodus of mid-budget films with nowhere to land.

Distribution

Paramount’s Bold Bid for Warner: What a $60 Billion Merger Means for Hollywood

October 16, 2025 FilmTake Comments Off on Paramount’s Bold Bid for Warner: What a $60 Billion Merger Means for Hollywood

Skydance, backed by the Ellison family, has just acquired Paramount, and is now eyeing Warner Bros. Discovery for its next takeover. If consummated, the merger would unite some of the most valuable entertainment assets under one roof—streaming platforms, TV networks, movie studios, and sports rights. The combined company would immediately rival Disney and Netflix in scale.