Good morning: In today's edition of The Industry, we look at:
PSKY + WBD, Jim Carrey + César Awards and Eraserheads.
Let’s go!
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Ok. So the deal is not yet done. And there’s still a massive uphill battle against regulators.
But Paramount Skydance has entered into exclusive talks to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. And in a wild twist, their only competitor in the deal, Netflix, has dropped out, stating:
“The deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”
The primal forces of nature have shifted as Netflix had previously won Warner Bros. back in December.
But ten straight bids from Paramount, ending at $31/share ($111bn enterprise value) were enough to sway WBD, calling the last bid a “superior proposal.”
Remember, PSKY is buying all of WBD, which includes:
Streaming & Studios (film/TV) segments:
Warner Bros. Studios (film/TV)
HBO + HBO’s linear channels
TNT Sports International
DC Studios and DC Comics Publishing
Superman
Batman
New Line Cinema
Classic IP:
Harry Potter
Friends
The Shining
Bonnie and Clyde
Casablanca
The Wizard of Oz
Global Linear Networks
CNN
This could be contentious as Paramount owns CBS
TBS
Food Network
Cartoon Network
HGTV
Discovery+
TNT Sports (US)
Here’s what the two combined companies could look like, if we added their full year 2025 numbers:
210.5M combined streaming subs (vs. Netflix’s 325M)
78.9M subs - Paramount+
131.6M subs - HBO Max
$66.19bn combined 2025 revenue
$37.3bn revenue WBD
$28.89bn revenue PSKY
$825M combined Q4 2025 net loss
$252M net loss Q4 WBD
$573M net loss Q4 PSKY
$12.5bn projected 2026 EBITDA
$8.7bn projected 2026 EBITDA - WBD
$3.8bn projected 2026 EBITDA - PSKY
$47.2bn combined gross debt (before deal financing)
$33.5bn debt - WBD
$13.7bn debt - PSKY
$132.3bn combined enterprise value
$111bn - WBD
$21.3bn - PSKY
Remember, Warner Bros. has a market cap 6x bigger than Paramount Skydance. So this is only possible because the deal is backed by CEO David Ellison’s father, Larry Ellison ($209bn net worth).
Here’s a breakdown of the deal financing:
$45.7bn from the Ellison family + RedBird Capital Partners
Executive: Jeff Shell (former CEO, NBCUniversal)
Personal guarantee in funds from Larry Ellison
$57.5bn bridge loan from Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Citi, and Apollo
e.g. new debt
Some additional deal sweeteners from Paramount Skydance:
+$7bn fee if deal doesn’t close
+$2.8bn to cover the Netflix/WB break-up fee
+$1.5bn in debt refinancing fees
+$.25/share for every quarter post Sept 30, 2026, if the deal doesn’t close. ($650M/quarter).
So, Netflix walks away with $2.8bn from Paramount Skydance. And their stock is already climbing, having gone up 10% since yesterday. Welcome news as Netflix had lost $60bn in market value since December.
Looking ahead, Paramount Skydance has promised $6bn in cost savings if they acquired WBD, which means we’re going to see a mass reduction in staff. They’re promising the combined studios will release 30 films/year. Although in 2025 both studios released 17 films with only four playing longer than 45 days in theaters (MI8, F1, Sinners, One Battle After Another).
Finally, Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery cannot form until the approval of the US’s DOJ and regulators in Europe. Even states like CA can block the deal. And even though David and Larry Ellison are close with Trump, there still may be some trouble ahead.
For More:
Want a deep dive on WBD’s financials? Q4 2025 results just released which tells us a lot about what parts of the company are in need of some fixing up: https://theindustry.co/p/warner-bros-discovery-q4-2025-results
THE INDUSTRY TLDR
Apple lands Mary Bronstein’s limited series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Starz Q4 2025: $322.8M revenue (-6%), $20.7M net loss.
Hulu and Noah Hawley are developing The Witches of Cambridge.
20th Television picks up Kimberly Belflower’s untitled YA series.
Apple and Netflix strike rare F1 pact.
MRC hires Hannah Levy and Jessica Switch as senior film executives.
E.W. Scripps renews CEO Adam Symson through 2029
Emma Stone and Chris Pine are in talks to star in Universal romcom The Catch.
Michaela McManus joins NBC’s The Rockford Files reboot.
AMC+ acquires U.S. rights to BBC crime drama This City is Ours.
Sumerian Pictures acquires Sundance title The Incomer w/ Domhnall Gleeson.
IFC buys Sundance’s The Shitheads starring Dave Franco.
Janus Films takes North America rights to Berlinale’s Dao.
Abramorama acquires Eraserheads: Combo on the Run.
Bille August teams again with Mediawan for a Julius Caesar series.
Yesterday’s correct answer: Time Travel Austin Butler/Edward Berger project.
54% got it right.
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
Julia Louis-Dreyfus can play a woman on the brink like no one else. And Mary Bronstein has certainly proven to be well-equipped in capturing a woman on the brink.
The If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (2025) director is working on Apple’s new untitled limited series, starring Louis-Dreyfus and SNL alum Cecily Strong. Based on the New York Magazine article, The Nanny Squatter, the series will follow a couple whose lives are upended when a seemingly ideal caregiver moves in, turning their world completely upside down. Like Mary Poppins, if she refuses to leave.
Imagine Selina Meyer-level chaos, paired with Bronstein’s visceral writing. JLD is going to have a lot of fun with this.
Bronstein will write, direct, and showrun the limited series.
Veep clip. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You trailer.
Starz Q4 2025 earnings. Their third quarter since the split with Lionsgate:
$322.8M revenue
↓6%
$210.3M streaming revenue
↓11.9%
$20.7M net loss
vs. $31.8M loss last year
17.6M US subs
↑170K (US subs) from last quarter
Starz ended Q4 with $589.4M net debt.
Tidbits:
Hulu and Noah Hawley’s 26 Keys (Alien: Earth) are developing The Witches of Cambridge, based on Practical Magic author Alice Hoffman’s forthcoming fantasy novel. The novel follows two brilliant women who become involved with a mysterious group of witches known as the Lilith Society. From Alien to Hulu’s Fargo series, The Witches of Cambridge naturally fits the fanciful tonal lane Hawley has long explored.
John Proctor Is the Villain playwright Kimberly Belflower’s untitled YA project has been picked up by 20th Television. Following a sheltered teen who finds some light in her small rural town at her new job at a waterpark, the series echoes similar coming of age themes to Belflower’s acclaimed play. Dying for Sex co-creator Kim Rosenstock is on board as showrunner.
Mini Tidbits:
Apple and Netflix just pulled off a rare sports-media truce. Apple gets U.S. rights to Netflix’s F1 docuseries Drive to Survive Season 8, while Netflix co-broadcasts May’s Canadian F1 Grand Prix.
Indie studio MRC brings on two senior executives. Coming from Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media (Sinners), Hannah Levy will take on Director of Development of Film and Jessica Switch from Picturestart (Together) is the new SVP of Film. In their new roles they will develop new writer-director relationships for projects a part of MRC’s slate.
CEO Adam Symson has renewed his contract with media company E.W. Scripps Co. through 2029. The renewal comes at a time of major layoffs for the company with a new target of an increase in adjusted earnings up to $150M over the next three years.
Renewal:
Fox’s Animal Control (for S5)
Star: Joel McHale
Trailers:
Netflix’s Dynasty: The Murdochs (doc)
Release: Mar 13
Summer of 1985
Prod Co: Media Res Studio
Distributor: Fifth Season
Partnership via first-look distribution deal
Swedish series
Prime’s Jury Duty Presents (S2)
Release: Mar 20
HBO’s The Comeback (S3 - final season)
Release: Mar 22
A24’s Marc by Sofia
Dir: Sofia Coppola
Release: Mar 27
IFC’s Faces of Death
Dir: Daniel Goldhaber (Cam)
Cast: Dacre Montgomery, Barbie Ferreira, Charli XCX
Trailer (it’s bloody)
Release: April 10th
Neon’s The Christophers
Dir: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Ian McKellen, Michaela Coel
Release: April 10
Dark Star Picture’s The Serpent’s Skin
Editor: Vera Drew
Release: April 21
First look:
Apple TV’s Star City
Spinoff: For All Mankind
Release date: May 29
Release dates:
Utopia’s Bunnylovr
Premiere: Sundance
Cast: Rachel Sennott
Release: April 10
Disney+’s Orangutan
Narrator: Josh Gad
Release: April 22
Shoot dates:
HBO Max’s Heated Rivalry (S2)
Shooting: August 2026
Release: April 2027
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Universal’s romcom The Catch is in talks to star two-time winner and current Oscar nominee Emma Stone alongside Chris Pine.
A big departure from her recent, acclaimed Lanthimos collaborations (Bugonia, Poor Things), Stone will play a baseball fan whose accidental interference with a crucial play sparks a firestorm of public outrage.
Inspired by the infamous Steve Bartman incident (clip), a Cubs fan who was blamed for derailing a playoff run, the film will look at one fleeting moment that spirals into lasting infamy that only love can fix.
While Pine’s role is unknown, he is expected to play Stone’s love interest, marking her long-awaited return to the romantic comedy genre (not including La La Land) for the first time since 2011 in ensemble film Crazy, Stupid, Love. It’ll be nice to see the actress as a typical adult human woman for a change.
The Catch is set to start filming this summer.
Jonathan Majors is shooting his first film this week after being sentenced to a 1-year in-person domestic violence intervention program. No official synopsis, but it’s directed by Kyle Rankin, whose Venice film Run Hide Fight was a verite school shooter narrative that saw one student stand up for her class and fight back. The new film is being compared to Red Dawn.
Majors’ career had hit a major inflection point with Creed 3 (2023), Sundance’s Magazine Dreams (2023), and a major role as a Marvel villain until he was found guilty of domestic violence.
Actor and content creator Adam Rose (Netflix’s Merry Happy Whatever) has a packed schedule, joining three upcoming projects:
Searchlight’s Behemoth
Cast: Pedro Pascal and Olivia Wilde
Amazon MGM Studios’ Goodbye Girl
Cast: Cole Sprouse and Kiernan Shipka
Sumerian Pictures’ My New Friend Jim
Cast: Rob Lowe and Keith David
While Rose’s roles are all unknown, production is set to start on each of these projects this year.
Mini Tidbits:
Ahead of its July series debut, Prime Video’s Elle casts Maitreyi Ramakrishnan (Never Have I Ever) in its second season. In the Legally Blonde prequel series, Ramakrishnan will play Sam, an ambitious newspaper editor who clashes with Elle.
Actress Michaela McManus (One Tree Hill) joins NBC’s reboot of The Rockford Files. She’ll play the wife to David Boreanaz’s Jim Rockford as he plans to return to his life as a private investigator in LA. McManus and Boreanaz previously worked together on the CBS/Paramount drama SEAL Team (2017-24).
The Wire actor Bobby J. Brown has died at 62 in a tragic barn fire. He’s best known as Officer Bobby Brown in HBO’s acclaimed drama as a symbol of the city’s great political and religious influence. Appearing in shows like Law & Order: SVU and Veep, Brown will be very missed.
FESTIVALS
César Awards 2026:
Best Film/Best Adapted Screenplay/Best Supporting Actress
L’attachement
Dir: Carine Tardieu
Best Director/Best Cinematography/ Best Editing/Best Costume
Netflix’s Nouvelle Vague
Dir: Richard Linklater (First American to win Best Director)
Best New Actress
Nadia Melliti, La Petite Dernière
Full list of winners here. Or just watch Jim Carrey accept an honorary award and give a full speech in French.
Mini Tidbit:
AMC+ is now the U.S. home to BBC crime drama This City is Ours, the week of its premiere at the London TV Screenings. The Liverpool-set crime saga centers on a loyal gang leader caught in a violent power struggle as his criminal empire begins to fracture. This City is Ours will air on AMC+ next month.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Sundance’s The Incomer, starring Domhnall Gleeson, is acquired by Sumerian Pictures. This is Sumerian’s second acquisition after they nabbed Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, Josephine starring Channing Tatum.
It’s an interesting pick-up; the two films couldn’t be more tonally different, with The Incomer as a wacky, playful but ultimately biting story about the conservation of your inner spirit.
Releasing later this year. Want to learn more about the film? At Sundance, we interviewed the EP, Moby.
Tidbits:
IFC buys US rights for The Shitheads. Dave Franco plays one of two unqualified bozos hired to transfer a rich teen to rehab. Others in The Shitheads’ cast include Peter Dinklage and Nicholas Braun. Macon Blair of The Toxic Avenger directs and it’s one fun, wild ride. First look.
Cold War thriller No Man’s Land is being adapted for the big screen. From the producer behind Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, Jason Berman’s A/Vantage Pictures, in quite high praise, is being compared to both Zodiac and SE7EN. Based on Image Comics (Prime’s Invincible) limited series, the film follows an FBI agent and KGB operative who are forced to solve a politically explosive murder before the ice melts.
Janus Films buys North American rights for Berlin Festival Official Selection Dao. Synopsis: While preparing for her daughter’s wedding in Paris, Gloria remembers the ceremony years before in Guinea-Bissau which consecrated her father as an ancestor. There’s a wonderful kineticness to the film, much like the director Alain Gomis’ Félicité (2017, trailer). No word on release date.
Abramorama picks up Eraserheads: Combo on the Run, a doc that Warner Bros. just released in the Philippines. It’s about the Filipino rock band Eraserheads (trailer), who formed as students in the 1980s and attracted the attention of the nation. Releasing theatrically this year.
Starboard Entertainment (Behaving Bradley) picks up the North American rights to experimental documentary This Is Buzz (trailer), from Arlington Road director Mark Pellington. A month out from its Sundance premiere, the music-driven doc is inspired by the 90s cult MTV series Buzz.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Two-time Palme d’Or winner Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror) double dips with Mediawan. After their smash hit The Count of Monte Cristo (trailer) they’re now making a series on Julius Caesar.
August stated that this is:
“The story of a great leader intoxicated by power… uncovering the deep psychological complexities ultimately leading from the most epic feats to his downfall.”
August’s Monte Cristo was dirtier and more romantic than the ‘02 Hollywood version. We believe he’ll take a similar tack with Caesar.
Mini Tidbits:
British broadcaster Sky has joined Starz as co-commissioner on 50 Cent’s produced feature film Fightland. The boxing drama follows a formerly incarcerated champion who returns to London to seek vengeance against the crime family he thinks betrayed him.
Screen Australia names Rachel Perkins as Director of First Nations Strategy. An experienced filmmaker and co-founder of Blackfella Films (Total Control), Perkins will work on building partnerships with the Australian government and screen industry stakeholders.
ON THIS DAY
1996. Happy Madison Productions is founded.
Written by Gabriel Miller and Madelyn Menapace.
Editor: Gabriel Miller.
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