Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
Paramount’s Strike, Golden Globes’ Snubs, and a Wolf.
Let’s go!
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Paramount has made a hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
This is just a few days after Netflix entered into exclusive talks to buy Warner Bros. (full details: https://theindustry.co/p/winner-takes-all)
Paramount’s bid:
$30.00/share (Enterprise Value: $108.4bn) - all cash
Vs. Netflix’s $27.75/share (Enterprise Value: $82.7bn) - cash/stock
Paramount is painting Netflix’s deal as financially risky and bad for Hollywood, while touting that they will guarantee:
“30 plus theatrical releases per year.”
To fund Paramount’s deal ($77.9bn + assumption of debt), some partners have come into the mix (some to fund the deal and others investing in Paramount Skydance):
Deal funds:
$11.8bn from the Ellison family
RedBird Capital Partners
Executive: Jeff Shell (former CEO, NBCUniversal)
$54bn bridge loan from Bank of America, Citi, and Apollo
Additional Paramount–Skydance investors:
$24bn from three sovereign wealth funds from the Gulf (designated as non-voting, non-equity passive investors)
Public Investment Fund (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
L’imad Holding Company PJSC (Abu Dhabi)
Qatar Investment Authority (Qatar)
Affinity Partners (Jared Kushner’s investment firm)
Other strategic capital:
$1bn - Tencent (Chinese tech company)
Ted Sarandos has tried to calm fears, stating that if he already owned Warner Bros., then:
“All those movies we saw this year do so well for Warner Bros would have been released in the same way in theaters (Minecraft, Superman, Weapons, Sinners)”
The Warner Bros. Discovery board will issue a response to the new bid in 10 business days.
For More:
Paramount put out a website, Strongerhollywood.com, with their full deal terms vs. Netflix’s.
Full SEC breakdown on Paramount offer.
367 pages for light holiday reading.
Golden Globe Nominations.
It’s easy to be cynical about this awards show, and for good reason. Their ownership is dubious; they have a history of making questionable decisions, and it’s really just a cash cow.
But it’s, for better or worse, considered a precursor to The Oscars. So, let’s get into the highlights of yesterday’s nominations: https://theindustry.co/p/the-golden-globe-2026-nominees
The 82nd Golden Globes will be airing on January 5 on CBS and Paramount+.
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
A new Western-focused studio has locked John Wayne film/TV life rights.
Netflix & Hello Sunshine adapt All We Ever Wanted with Jessica Goldberg as showrunner.
AMC offloads Hycroft Mining stake for $24.1M, ending its gold-mining experiment (yes, really).
Artists Equity hires veteran producer Amy Baer as President of Film & TV.
Dwayne Johnson developing Hawaii-set reality series inspired by his childhood.
Jimmy Kimmel extends ABC deal through 2027.
Alexander Skarsgård returns to Scandinavian cinema in The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands.
Paul Dano boards Florian Zeller’s thriller Bunker.
Giancarlo Esposito joins All The Sinners Bleed as a religious powerbroker.
Netflix’s Walter Boys S3 adds Erin Karpluk.
Freestyle Digital Media acquires Charliebird for February theatrical/digital release.
Steve Callaghan launches cozy-crime film series Trivia Night Mysteries for 2026.
Olympics.com buys Champions of the Golden Valley.
Filmmaker Tawfik Alzaidi is prepping action-adventure Thuraya.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Teton Ridge Entertainment, the Western-focused studio owned by TWG Global (Former Legendary Entertainment head), has secured exclusive film and TV life rights to John Wayne in a pact with John Wayne Enterprises.
The deal grants full access to the family’s archives, including letters, journals, photos, and home movies.
Producer Bill Gerber (A Star Is Born) will shepherd the current in-development projects, consisting of biopics, documentaries, remakes, everything is on the table, with Ethan Wayne EPing. Wayne, whose career covered six decades and more than 170 films, remains one of cinema’s defining cowboy icons, and it will be truly exciting to see how Teton expands on his legacy.
As long as we don’t get any AI re-creations, we’ll be happy.
Soap opera-esque bestselling novel All We Ever Wanted is being adapted into a series with Netflix and Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine (Big Little Lies, Daisy Jones & the Six) on board to produce.
From author Emily Giffin (Something Borrowed), the 2018 viral book takes a piping hot look at a scandalous love affair unfolding behind the mansions of a sparkly, wealthy Nashville suburb, with NBC’s Parenthood producer Jessica Goldberg attached as showrunner, writer, and EP.
Hello Sunshine has an extensive background in book-to-series adaptations, and the series has the potential to be just as addictive as its source material.
Mini Tidbit:
AMC Theaters has offloaded the majority of its stake in Hycroft Mining, transferring it to Sprott Mining for $24.1M in cash while retaining a small equity position. The sale ends AMC’s odd experiment in gold and silver mining, a pandemic-era investment that now leaves the monster theater chain to focus primarily on what it’s best at, big-screen movie exhibition.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity (Air) has brought on veteran producer Amy Baer (Landline Pictures) as its new President of Film & Television.
Dwayne Johnson is working on a reality series set in Hawaii. Inspired by Johnson’s childhood on the islands, the show will highlight culturally diverse Hawaiian women and local life.
Jimmy Kimmel has extended his ABC deal through May 2027. After a turbulent year getting cancelled, then un-cancelled, and the personal loss of his band leader, Kimmel hints that this may be his last extension on his own decision.
Check out our full article on his return here.
Bradley Cooper is writing a new, deeply personal and “terrifying” project inspired by Maestro. He won’t say what it is, though, so that’s kind of annoying… His upcoming film is Is This Thing On? He wrote, directed, and even shot the B-Cam footage. So after that, we have something frightening to look forward to from Cooper.
WME just landed heavyweight CAA agents Trevor Astbury (clients: ParaNorman animator Travis Knight, Dune screenwriter) and Matt Martin (clients: screenwriter, Toy Story 4) as senior partners, bringing their clients along with them.
The Age of Disclosure is a doc attempting to lay the groundwork for the existence of UAP and alien life. Has taken off on Prime Video, even outperforming One Battle After Another. It is currently in a late-game Oscar push.
Trailers:
Peacock’s The Copenhagen Test
Release: Dec 27
Janus Films’ Cronos
Release: Dec 31
Mainframe Studios’ The Immortals & The Shadow Realm
NBC’s The Hunting Party (S2)
Release: Jan 8
Release dates:
HBO’s Rooster
Cast: Steve Carell
Release: March 2026
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
He’s played the brooding romantic leads and the arrogant playboy, but now Alexander Skarsgård (Big Little Lies, Succession) is taking on gothic horror in The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands. The first English-language film from acclaimed Cannes Costa Rican writer-director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén (Clara Sola), it is also the Swedish-born actor’s first Scandinavian feature in over a decade (his last was 2010’s Puss and if you’re curious, here’s the trailer).
The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands synopsis:
Set in 1860s Pacific Northwest, a Native American governess educated in a Christian mission school is hired to teach two daughters of a British widower (Skarsgård).
A haunted widower character feels spiritually close to some of Skarsgård’s other roles. Even in Succession, when the role didn’t lean too far into parody, he had a stoic gaze that masked a psychic pain. He can also play self-pitying pain quite well as the frustrated husband in Melancholia (his English-language breakout film).
The Wolf Will Tear Your Immaculate Hands is currently filming in Ireland.
Paul Dano joins Florian Zeller’s psychological thriller Bunker in an undisclosed role. The film stars real-life couple Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz.
Synopsis:
When an architect accepts a morally ambiguous project — building a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire — his wife begins to question their marriage after 17 years together.
We like Zeller casting Dano here. Filming is underway in Madrid and London.
Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) joins All The Sinners Bleed, a crime thriller about Titus Crown, the first Black sheriff of a small county in the American South. After a violent incident at a local school, Titus uncovers evidence that a serial killer has been operating in the community for years while using religion as justification.
Esposito plays Ezekiel Wiggins, a pivotal figure within the county’s religious epicenter.
This seems like the perfect role for him and hits close to home for his villain portrayal in the latest of the Far Cry series -clip (now becoming an anthology television series). Currently in pre-production.
Mini Tidbits:
Netflix’s series adaptation My Life With the Walter Boys adds Erin Karpluk (Hulu’s A Million Little Things) to its season three cast in a major role.
Another Netflix series, Ransom Canyon, adds Heidi Engerman (Candyman) as Yancy Grey’s (Jack Schumacher) wife for its second season. Production is wrapping early 2026.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT / INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Charliebird (winner: Tribeca Film Festival) has been acquired by Freestyle Digital Media for a late-February theatrical and digital release. This is Libby Ewing’s feature directorial debut.
Synopsis:
Centers on a devoted music therapist at a children’s hospital in Texas. And, Charlie, the rebellious teen patient assigned to work with her, forms an unexpected bond.
Tidbits:
Former Family Guy showrunner Steve Callaghan wrote a 90-minute pilot (just wrapped), Trivia Night Mysteries. It centers on a sharp-witted fact-checker and trivia champ who turns amateur sleuth when a rival player is found murdered. Look, Family Guy had some absurdist humor, and this seems like it can easily swing into the category. This is planned to be a TV-movie series for Nicely Entertainment, debuting in 2026.
Olympics.com acquires Champions of the Golden Valley (premiere: Tribeca), following Afghan skier Alishah Farhang’s mission to build a unifying ski culture in Bamyan. Malala Yousafzai EPs. Trailer.
Marrakech Film Festival’s top prize, the Etoile d’Or, goes to Promised Sky, the second feature from Tunisian director Erige Sehiri (Under the Fig Trees). The drama follows three Ivorian women living together in search of a better future.
Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi (Norah) is getting ready to shoot Thuraya, an action-adventure feature. Production was postponed after Alzaidi’s Norah was an official selection for Cannes’ Un Certain Regard last year.
A rant from the editor…
My three favorite films from Sundance have been released theatrically, and the box office totals were less than ideal:
Rebuilding (Bleecker Street)
$94K domestic total
Twinless (Roadside Attractions)
$1.26M domestic total
$1.4M worldwide
The Thing With Feathers (Briarcliff Entertainment)*
$171K domestic total
$609K worldwide
*Feathers just opened, but the per-screen average of $275 across 400 screens isn’t great.
So what happened?
They all have strong talent. Feathers stars Benedict Cumberbatch. Rebuilding stars Meghann Fahy and Josh O’Connor. Twinless stars Dylan O’Brien (Maze Runner).
But all three of these are challenging films. Feathers is particularly dark, but the filmmaking is just beautiful (director interview coming soon). Twinless is the lightest of the trio, and that’ll be why it fared better. It just seems like audiences don’t come out for dramas that lean morose, unless they tilt so dark as to be horror. It’s a shame, Rebuilding is profound.
Is there a way that Netflix (if they buy Warner Bros.) could actually encourage people to go to the cinema? Maybe after bingeing a show, Netflix locks you out of your account until you watch a Warner Bros. film in the theater. To regain account access, you’d need to present your ticket for verification.
Sounds dystopian, but at this point, so is the box office.
ON THIS DAY
2005. Viacom’s Paramount Pictures acquires DreamWorks SKG for $1.6bn.
Written by Gabriel Miller, Spencer Carter, and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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