Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paramount’s Vision, Netflix’s Equity, and Vince Vaughn goes time traveling.
Let’s go!
If you enjoy today’s edition, please hit the like button or leave a comment.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison laid out his ambitious vision of combining his company with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Bottom line is that they are not going to take their foot off the gas and will combine their companies to try to compete with Netflix and Disney.
Here’s a breakdown of the promises on the investor call:
Film:
30 films/year from both studios (15 each)
45-day windows
If this happens, amazing.
But we’re somewhat skeptical because in 2025 both studios combined released 17 films with only four playing longer than 45 days in theaters (MI8, F1, Sinners, One Battle After Another).
We’d like to see a sizable portion of these releases come from Warner Bros.’ new art house film label run by the ex-Neon folks.
TV:
HBO and Paramount+ will merge in the coming years
200M+ combined DTC subs (factoring in the overlap)
Ellison stated that HBO will operate with independence. Thus, HBO CEO Casey Bloys will stay on at least for the time. However, his contract ends next year.
Three PSKY services that will get combined or folded in: Paramount+, Discovery+, and Pluto TV.
Linear:
Linear networks will be combined, not spun off
These channels will also be made available on streaming to capture more audience segments.
Whether or not this slows the decline of linear TV, we’ll see.
Combined company financials:
$79bn in net debt
$6bn in cost savings in 3 years, achieved by combining
Streaming providing platforms
Real estate
Marketing efforts
IT systems
And they say… most of this will be with no layoffs.
Again, amazing if there are virtually no layoffs. But it’s hard to envision a scenario where that’s realistic. Given how many Paramount staffers were cut after Skydance came in.
2026 Projections:
$69bn combined revenue (projected)
$16bn combined EBITDA (projected)
Future Projections:
Mid single-digit Compound Annual Growth Rate (2026-2030)
2030 - mid-20% EBITDA margin
2030 - 50% free cash flow conversion
$10bn in free cash flow/year
One thing that gives us optimism:
David Ellison really respects filmmakers. And is even known for getting in the weeds with writers on specific story beats.
He told an anecdote on the call about how in 2022, Skydance had two films he loved deeply. One was Netflix’s The Adam Project, which was the most successful film on Netflix at the time. And the other was Top Gun: Maverick, which made $1.5bn at the box office.
Maverick went on to have a cultural impact, while The Adam Project just withered.
Therefore, he claimed he’s not in the biz of making movies for streaming. Theatrical is where you create long-term value.
Seconded!
For More:
Full PSKY + WBD pitch deck here.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Artists Equity signs a first-look production/distribution deal with Netflix.
Netflix lands A24’s suburban thriller-comedy Next Door w/ Tessa Thompson.
Hulu’s 20th Television Animation is developing The Kids from S.I.P.P.Y.
Paramount Skydance hires Amazon exec Danielle Carney as head of U.S. ad sales.
Kristen Bell denies reports of $60M payday for Frozen 3 & 4.
EchoStar had a rough Q4 2025, losing subscribers and revenue.
Vince Vaughn goes time-traveling in Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice
Paul Giamatti stars in indie horror Boutique.
Hope Davis has joined NBC’s new drama pilot, Protection.
Oscilloscope picks up Underland, produced by Darren Aronofsky.
Future of Film is Female picks up Reeling from SXSW 2025.
Kino Lorber picks up US digital rights on award-winning doc Suburban Fury.
A24 UK has hired See-Saw executive producer Patrick Walters.
Yesterday’s correct answer: Sylvester Stallone appeared in a near-silent role in Jerry Bruckheimer’s first feature, Farewell, My Lovely (1975).
32% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s studio, Artists Equity, has signed a first look deal with Netflix. It’s a production and distribution deal. This is not related to their current three-year theatrical feature film agreement with Sony.
This checks out, as their latest Netflix film The Rip scored 112M views in the past 6 weeks. We find it a tad depressing as slotting Matt Damon and Ben Affleck films onto Netflix, actually depress the box office, driving people to stay home vs. go out to theaters.
In some ways, this has already hurt Sony. As The Rip streamed on Netflix the same weekend as Sony’s 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple was released theatrically to weaker than expected $13M.
Netflix is holding on to Tessa Thompson (His & Hers). The streamer has landed the rights to the TV series Next Door from A24 and Sam Boyd (wri: On HBO Max’s Love Life), with Thompson set to star and produce.
In the vein of Todd Field’s Little Children (2006) and Rear Window (1954), the series is a dark thriller comedy about the secrets and paranoia that live in American suburbs.
In a similar fashion to her acclaimed limited series His & Hers, Thompson is not just dealing with internal secrets but a wave of external paranoia all around her. With the Hedda actress on board and the success of Netflix/A24’s sharp dramedy Beef (2023-), it’s exciting to see these three join forces.
Tidbits:
Hulu’s 20th Television Animation (Bob’s Burgers) is working on The Kids from S.I.P.P.Y, an animated comedy series following a couple of high school misfits who get recruited for an elite spy school. The show comes from Full Frontal with Samantha Bee WGA-winning writer Nicole Silverberg and Branson Reese (wri. Max’s Oh My God, Yes!) and is one of many animated shows in the works at Hulu.
Paramount Skydance brings over Amazon’s Danielle Carney as new head of U.S. sales. Carney played a crucial role in Amazon’s record-breaking sports telecasts with the NFL, now joining Paramount amid their high profile deal with Warner Bros. Carney will start early next week.
Kristen Bell stated that previous reports that she was making $60M total for Frozen 3 and 4 (including upfront and backend), are wildly exaggerated. Assuming the same goes for Idina Menzel (Elsa), and Josh Gad (Olaf).
Dish Network’s parent company, EchoStar, lost big in Q4 2025:
168,000 subscribers lost
5M Dish TV subs total
7M total subs (w/ Sling TV)
$200M loss in revenue
Full breakdown here.
Renewals:
Fox’s Best Medicine (for S2)
Disney+ and Disney Channel’s Zombies 5 (greenlight)
Cancellation:
Apple’s Palm Royale (cancelled after S2)
Trailers:
Netflix’s Schooled!
Creator: Mark Rober (YT subs: 79M)
Paramount’s Scary Movie 6
Parodied films: The Substance, Smile, Get Out, Sinners and the usuals
Release: June 12
Prime’s Kevin (animated series)
Co-creator: Aubrey Plaza
Release date: April 20
Phenomena
Premiere: True/False Film Fest (Mar 5), CPH:DOX (Mar 17)
Showmax’s The People VS VBS (doc)
South African bank heist scandal
Fremantle’s Whatever It Takes: Inside the eBay Scandal
Just picked up by Channel 4
Dir: (The Fourth Estate)
Also bought for Germany and Austria
Netflix’s Harry Styles. One Night in Manchester
Announcement teaser
Live on Netflix: March 8
Release dates:
Strand Releasing’s Our Land (Nuestra Tierra)
Premiere Venice
Release: May 1
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Vince Vaughn stars in the upcoming time travel film, 20th Century’s Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice. The trailer feels a bit convoluted. It starts off with a simple past Vaughn vs. future Vaughn conceit and seems to erupt into a full-blown farce with multiple gangs chasing after two Vince Vaughns.
The one thing that gave me hope: a lightning-fast shot in the trailer that’s a reference to Primer. If the filmmakers have studied this film, we’ll be in good hands.
Releasing on Hulu March 27th.
When I think of Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), horror isn’t the first genre that comes to mind. In Jim Gavin’s horror indie Boutique, the two-time Oscar nominee will play Calvin, an American tourist who visits the seaside town that inspired his favorite reclusive author, only to uncover a murderous secret society.
It’s been over a decade since Giamatti fully embraced the genre, like in the underrated M. Night Shyamalan film Lady in the Water (trailer), an often overlooked performance of his.
Calvin, however, still feels in line with the solitary men he plays so well: intellectually restless outsiders whose quiet lives radically pivot (The Holdovers, Sideways).
Tidbits:
Hope Davis has joined NBC’s new drama pilot, Protection. She will play a US marshal who doesn’t take any BS. The series follows law enforcement agents who become the target of a mysterious assassin. The last person on a hit TV series, Davis didn’t take any shit from? Brian Cox in this Succession clip.
Sasha Calle (Netflix’s The Rip) is now joining Universal/Blumhouse’s new Exorcist film starring Scarlett Johansson. Read our full breakdown on the project here: https://theindustry.co/p/scarlett-johansson-under-the-skin. If you’ve seen The Rip, then you’ll know Calle delivers the emotional heart of the film, as she often swings from knowing the most to the least.
Martial arts film Paper Made adds Bruce Lee Award winner Michael Jai White (The Dark Knight) to its cast. Best known as the Gotham City mobster, Gambol, his new role is unknown but he’ll need to bring his combat knowledge as the indie is centered on a secret fraternity of Black martial artists.
The Hulu and Dan Fogelman (Paradise) series The Land casts Blue Bloods actress Bridget Moynahan in a series regular role. She’ll act opposite Chris Meloni as his estranged ex-wife Belinda also joining Fogelman favorite Mandy Moore and William H. Macy in the NFL set comedy drama.
Our hearts go out to Bruce Campbell (Ash in Evil Dead), who has been diagnosed with cancer.
FESTIVALS AND DOCS
Battle of the farmers. Cat&Docs (Citizenfour) has picked up new doc Derek vs. Derek for international rights ahead of its world premiere at the Thessaloniki Int. Documentary Festival. The film follows the goofy but turbulent relationship between two farmers, both coincidentally named Derek, who disagree on the best ways to manage their land.
Derek vs. Derek - Trailer
TECH SECTION
Amazon Prime’s Senior Social Operations Manager is now working for the studio that created AI-generated Tilly Norwood. Their goal is to create a Tillyverse, building out a world and a story around her.
It’s all pretty horrific. And we also didn’t love David Ellison’s comments today on AI, where he said, roughly:
“We look at AI as a tool for artists, and we want to develop it for that lens. I also have tremendous optimism in terms of the creative unlock. Never as a replacement for storytellers and filmmakers, in support of their visions and what they hope to achieve.”
AI cheapens filmmaking by allowing for mental shortcuts that create subpar work. We detailed that more here:
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Oscilloscope picks up Underland, the operatic, hypnotic doc, produced by Darren Aronofsky and narrated poetically by Sandra Hüller. Here’s the mesmerizing trailer. Premiering in competition at Tribeca, it explores places rarely glimpsed by human eyes: caves, flooded drains, and underground laboratories. Releasing later this year.
Future of Film is Female picks up Reeling from SXSW 2025. The film is EP’d by Werner Herzog. And from the trailer, that feels well-deserved, as this psychologically twisted take on what happens when a man loses his memories and acclimates to a beachside birthday bash in Hawaii that goes sideways. Premiering in LA on March 18th. Tribeca Films takes digital.
Jagged Edge Productions, the production company behind Winnie-the-Pooh Blood and Honey, has a new children’s character to corrupt…
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Industry to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.