After over a year in the making, the Paramount-Skydance merger’s closure forged a new corporate juggernaut in the world of entertainment. Throughout the past couple of months, we’ve seen sweeping changes arrive as a result – such as CBS’s “financial decision” to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. One would think that CEO David Ellison would have enough to deal with after this massive shake up; but that presumption may be false.

That is if The Wall Street Journal’s reporting is any indication, as they’ve reported a rumor that Paramount-Skydance is looking to purchase yet another Hollywood titan – Warner Bros. Discovery. What’s more, the freshly minted brand could negate its potential acquisition’s business plans to spin off its cable TV side of the house from its streaming/film studio holdings; per unnamed sources “familiar with the situation.”

At the time of this writing, there’s no confirmation as to whether or not these claims are valid. If one were to prudently speculate, a Paramont-Skydance/Warner Bros Discovery deal could be seen as an undertaking on the same level as 2019’s Disney-Fox merger. That suggestion alone would probably have anti-trust advocates looking to stop such a deal; as some could claim the resulting entity as damaging to Hollywood’s competitive landscape.

Then again, both the Disney-Fox and Paramount-Skydance mergers went through without much competition. Speculate as we might, this report isn’t confirmed or denied by either party. That being said, we’ll all have to hold our questions for a time when more particulars of this hypothetical deal are revealed. 

Though one early concern that could be visited is how this proposed scenario might affect both studio’s theatrical slates. especially with Paramount Pictures’ recent Call of Duty deal further cementing that brand’s quest for tentpole franchises. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Pictures’ recent streak of box office hits like A Minecraft Movie, Sinners, and Superman might skew potential dealings in the favor of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. As always, we the people will need to wait and see where the line between truth and fiction lies with these claims.

For more on Movies, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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