In February 2026, the media behemoth Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) was set for acquisition, with Netflix and Paramount Skydance being the primary bidders. Paramount’s bid was considered more favourable and Netflix was swiftly out of the race by April. As of September 30th, a federal judge in the US has approved Paramount’s acquisition, which is set to be complete by October 6th with the merged company being renamed to simply Skydance. This acquisition will change the landscape of cinema and media as a whole, most likely for the worse. Here are a few reasons why.
Warner Bros. Discovery own CNN, a major American news network. During the current term of US President Donald Trump, the networks have encountered issues with Trump. Most recently, he removed CNN from the White House’s press pool. This will be impacted by Paramount’s buyout. The CEO of Paramount Skydance is David Ellison, who is a notable ally of Trump and also son of Larry Ellison, another major ally who has been a large donor to his campaigns since 2016 and is also involved with OpenAI’s controversial CEO Sam Altman.
Paramount additionally owns CBS, a major news network which gravitated to a more conservative position after Paramount was acquired by Ellison’s Skydance last year. As such, it’s reasonable to assume that CNN could fall the same way, especially since Bari Weiss became the editor-in-chief for CBS.
Weiss is a conservative figure who helped delay a 60 Minutes piece on deportations to Venezuela under the Trump administration. Both she and the Ellisons have also been large supporters of Israel, who the UN have officially stated is committing genocide against Palestine with the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for major Israeli leaders. Paramount recently condemned actor Mark Ruffalo for his criticism of the state and Paramount’s involvement. It can further be inferred that they will promote the views of the administration in relation to Queer rights, rights of women, racial minorities, physically and/or mentally disabled people, among many other marginalised groups.
While Ellison has denied that Weiss will be involved with CNN, it can reasonably be assumed that the network’s stance against Trump will likely not persist, with Ellison promising to make major changes to the network last year if he acquired it. In September 2025, Disney came under fire for suspending Jimmy Kimmel Live! after Kimmel made comments criticising the MAGA movement. The decision was only reversed after immense backlash, including by Disney collaborators and high-profile actors such as Oscar Isaac, though it sets a bad precedent. CNN will likely become another vehicle for Trump’s administration, effectively morphing into state-run media much like CBS.
In terms of cinema, Paramount’s acquisition includes a guarantee of 30 theatrical releases per year with a 45-day theatrical window at minimum. At first, this certainly sounds appealing. However, it is very unlikely this will come to pass and, if it will, it will lead to a slew of rushed films made not out of any pretence of artistic pursuit but out of a desire to fulfil a contractual obligation. Warner Bros. Discovery’s releases have not been doing well at the box office in 2026, with the summer’s blockbusters like Supergirl or The End of Oak Street failing commercially.
WBD’s latest film Digger is also on track to be a financial bomb. This is following their acclaimed slate of 2025 releases which included Sinners and One Battle After Another, with both nominated by the Academy for Best Picture and the latter winning. Warner Bros. Discovery has also earned the ire of creatives, particularly Christopher Nolan who, after being unable to get a theatrical release for Tenet, left his partnership with WBD in favour of Universal. His subsequent films, Oppenheimer and The Odyssey, have been industry-leading critical and commercial successes, with Oppenheimer also going on to win Best Picture at the 96th Academy Awards.
Paramount’s recent run, including films such as Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning and The Running Man also failed domestically. The Final Reckoning suffered because of its enormous budget and the commercial failure of its predecessor Dead Reckoning. With that and Digger both starring Tom Cruise, it seems even the biggest of movie stars can’t save them. While there’s undoubtedly a conversation to be had with film budgets being far too high, the companies are failing to respond well to the industry’s shifting tides.
Paramount’s original features have also lacked major critical success with 2026 seeing the first time where none of their films were nominated for Best Picture. Films like The Naked Gun and Roofman were well-received but ultimately unable to attain huge critical success in major award shows. A film’s quality is definitely not dictated by merely awards buzz, but Paramount needs their heavy-hitters now more than ever.
This is all without acknowledging that both companies are also severely in debt. Warner Bros. has roughly $26 billion in arrears after being acquired by Discovery, while Paramount is set to be $80 billion in debt after the buyout is complete.
They might be temporarily stable with the backing of the Trump family. Additional financial supporters such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have each developed human rights concerns. The Department of Justice have also refused to block this buyout unlike what they did with Netflix, ultimately helping the acquisition for Paramount. This further adds to the idea that the merger will heavily benefit the administration and its key allies.
Studios like Disney, Sony and Universal all being able to have a higher concentration of annual releases (and some of the highest-grossing) without nearly as much debt demonstrates that Paramount’s deal is massively unsustainable.
Even with the acquisition of DC Studios and rights to several major pop culture icons including Batman and Superman, it appears that it will not help much. There will likely be a much greater focus on existing IP instead of forging relationships with filmmakers like what was done under WBD. But even then, Paramount’s major IPs such as Transformers have been mishandled. It is unlikely that we’ll get new and interesting takes on these characters, like what was seen in The Batman, The Dark Knight or potentially in the upcoming Clayface, in favour of endlessly treading familiar ground with less of an emphasis on a relationship with filmmakers.
Creatively and in terms of workforce, the outcome will likely also be negative. Returning to Ellison’s conservative views, it can be inferred that more projects which outwardly reject conservatism like Sinners or One Battle After Another will be less frequent. Film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will be leaving WBD as a result of this acquisition, both of whom helped greenlight the acclaimed 2025 WBD slate. While WBD was hardly perfect in this regard, infamously cancelling finished projects like Coyote vs. Acme or Batgirl for tax breaks, Paramount will not provide any favours. Due to conservative giants backing the acquisition, creative output can be stifled so we eventually get less films like these.
This is not an unfounded worry, with The League of United Latin American Citizens expressing concerns about it suppressing different viewpoints. The US has also been criticised for suppressing creations not lining up with the views of the Trump administration, with him recently stating his intent to block student loans from funding creative degrees. While some creatives have backed the acquisition, including Tom Cruise and James Cameron, others such as Mark Ruffalo, Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Thompson, Bryan Cranston and Lily Gladstone have openly opposed it. Ruffalo in particular has been openly against conservatism and the buyout, positing that it will stifle creativity and result in many losing their jobs.
The buyout is likely to effectively guarantee a monopoly on American media. The entertainment space is slowly shrinking as more studios are getting bought out and becoming vertically integrated. While Paramount is hardly the only company guilty of this – with Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilms, 21st Century Fox and ABC as an example – and should not be scrutinised solitarily, it nonetheless contributes to the creation of an empire of corporations, each with a stranglehold on what gets released.
Paramount’s buyout is more concerning due to the immense political ties involved as it bolsters the US brand of capitalism. This rebrand to Skydance makes it all clear, with Paramount and WBD being reduced to mere brand names to propel Ellison’s pet project up to the same level instantly. A promotional video was realised to commemorate the buyout, but it feels more like a eulogy. A media empire seemingly controlled by billionaire oligarchs as if it’s the modern day equivalent of being a feudal lord spells nothing but unease. The media landscape is changing rapidly, and the future of the industry looks terribly bleak.
