Saturday, August 1, 2026

November vs. April trial timing now controls Paramount’s WBD merger clock; after Sept. 30 the deal carries a $7 million-per-day fee, and Paramount says the combined company would lift film output to 30 titles a year.

Paramount Skydance wants its antitrust trial against Warner Bros. fast-tracked to November as states and the WGA push for April 2027; the dispute centers on the $111 billion merger and a $7 million-a-day ticking fee. The case now stands as a major test for film, TV and theatrical competition policy.

Gavin Newsom is pressing California AG Rob Bonta to cut a settlement on the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger as the companies head toward antitrust trial; the states say the tie-up would control 27% of wide-release distribution and threaten jobs and production spend.

Paramount Skydance and 12 states are fighting over when the Warner Bros. Discovery merger trial starts, with the company pushing November 2026 and the states seeking April 2027. The timing matters because the $110 billion deal carries a $7 million-a-day ticking fee after Sept. 30 if it isn't consummated.

April 2027 trial date is the flashpoint in Paramount’s $111bn Warner Bros. Discovery merger fight; the company says a November date would clear the case faster as the $7m-a-day ticking fee keeps running.

Paramount Primal preempts Nic Curcio and Kirby Gladstein’s high-concept thriller spec Sweet Spot; the duo are fresh off their Fantastic Fest win and indie horror launch Play House.

Paramount Primal lifts original erotic thriller spec Sweet Spot from Nic Curcio and Kirby Gladstein, extending the low-budget genre label's launch-year push; no producers or filmmakers are attached yet.

Licensed series now drive over half of Netflix’s new subscriber sign-ups, topping 53% in Q1 2026, as the streamer leans harder on library IP alongside originals; Netflix’s 2026 content spend is pegged at $20 billion.

Paramount Skydance pushes the expiration dates on its tender and exchange offers to August 14, keeping the debt swap aligned with its planned Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. Roughly 66.05% of tender notes and 76.26% of exchange notes were already committed as of July 30.

John Oliver locks his HBO contract through 2027 as the Paramount-Skydance/Warner Bros. Discovery merger stalls in antitrust limbo; Last Week Tonight now runs inside the delay window while the legal fight drags on.

Disney is exiting its A+E Global Media stake and selling it to Hearst, another signal legacy media owners are trimming linear-TV exposure as cable economics deteriorate.

$105M lawsuit says Netflix lost control of Fortitude after an unencrypted screening copy of the Nicolas Cage WWII spy thriller went missing from its L.A. office; the producers claim the theft crippled sales and distribution prospects. Netflix says the filmmakers delivered the file without standard safeguards and disputes liability.

Archival Producers Alliance and the International Documentary Association are pressing the UK government over the Paramount-WBD merger, warning consolidation could tighten archive access and documentary licensing terms.

Netflix has cut an exclusive deal with unscripted heavyweight Mike Darnell, adding a veteran format exec as the streamer keeps leaning into event reality and competition programming.

20th Century has shelved the Romulus sequel after Fede Álvarez exited; Brian Duffield is now writing a separate Alien movie as Ridley Scott’s hands-on control stalls the franchise plan. The original Romulus still stands at $350M worldwide on an $80M budget.

Julia Hart returns to direct Netflix's Better Than the Movies; Beatrice Kitsos and David Iacono board as the YA rom-com leads. Heather Flanders scripts, with Hart and Jordan Horowitz producing through Original Headquarters.

Stephen King’s Desperation moves into active adaptation mode as Sam Raimi produces and Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein are eyed to direct. Ryan Brennan is on the script, keeping the project squarely in horror-thriller territory.

Apple TV+ has Colson Whitehead’s Harlem trilogy in early development with Graham Yost and Aric Avelino adapting; Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, Mark Ceryak and Melissa Bernstein are EPing the crime saga.

Rebecca Hall boards Netflix's Dan Brown series as Katherine Solomon; Morgan Spector stars as Robert Langdon in the book adaptation, with Susanne Bier directing the limited run.

Mahershala Ali is off Marvel's long-gestating Blade reboot, leaving the vampire-slayer project stalled after multiple director exits; Ali has already moved on to Amazon MGM's Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother with Bassam Tariq.

Disney’s A+E move puts a roughly $1B price tag on linear-network assets as it starts unwinding cable exposure; Netflix’s co-license spree underscores a market shift toward shared-rights and windowing flexibility.

Warner Bros. has until December to lock Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling on Barbie 2 before rights revert to Mattel; the studio has already floated profit-share offers, but talks remain unresolved.

TFC Management adds ex-Gersh agent Jamie Eisman to its talent bench; the boutique rep shop now counts 14 managers and says its production arm remains in post on Sony's The Nightingale.

California post-production tax bill AB2319 would create a 35% to 50% standalone credit to keep editing, sound, VFX, scoring and finishing work in-state. The Editors Guild says the move is needed to counter a production slump and pull jobs back from New York, Georgia, Canada and the UK.

A24’s Elden Ring wraps a four-month UK shoot and is headed into a year-plus of VFX-heavy post before its March 3, 2028 theatrical release; Alex Garland built the adaptation on a 160-page spec script and visuals package.

France is convening a summit on AI, theatrical exclusivity and film financing with Netflix, Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony, CAA and major exhibitors in the room; the CNC-led event spotlights Macron’s push to expand production incentives and build an international independent-cinema NGO.

Snapchat will ban wholly AI-generated videos from Spotlight while still allowing AI-edited clips, tightening rules around synthetic content as Meta doubles down on personalized AI media.

Magnolia opens Gregg Araki’s Sundance raunch-com I Want Your Sex in about 700 theaters as counterprogramming; Janus expands Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Cannes-premiered The Samurai And The Prisoner nationally after a near-$10 million Japan run.

Gallows Humor Pictures’ indie horror anthology Ragebait lands an exclusive Screambox release; the feature was formerly titled Clickbait and is being positioned for streaming rollout.

Alien: Earth Season 2 is already filming at Pinewood; Noah Hawley says most scripts are done, the world is expanding, and Peter Dinklage has a major role in the new run.