<b>Skydance is becoming a juggernaut as it brings Paramount, Warner, HBO and more studios under one roof, with franchises such as <i>DC Comics, Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings</i> and <i>Game of Thrones</i>.</b>
The $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery was officially signed on October 6.
The <a href="https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1791189816"><b>new company will be called Skydance</b></a> and will control Warner Bros, Paramount Studios, HBO Max, DC Studios, Paramount+, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, New Line, TNT, CBS, CNN, MTV, Showtime (and partly SkyShowtime), Pluto TV, Adult Swim, Skydance Animation, Eurosport, Discovery and TCM. Over time, the streaming services will be combined.
CEO David Ellison says Skydance will spend more on content than any other company in the world: "More than Disney, more than Netflix", he said.
But what exactly is the content that will fall under this umbrella? Flatpanels has taken a closer look.
<figure class="wide-mobile"><a id="thumb" href="pictures/thehuntforgollum_1_large.jpg" class="highslide" rel="highslide"><img class="imgresponsive" src="pictures/thehuntforgollum_1_small.jpg" loading="lazy" alt="The Hunt for Gollum" title="The Hunt for Gollum" aria-label="Zoom" decoding="async"></a><figcaption class="picturecaptiontext"><i class="fa fa-camera fa-fw" aria-hidden="true"></i> The Lord of the Rings returns in December 2027 with The Hunt for Gollum. Elijah Wood is seen here in the lead role as Bilbo Baggins. Photo: Warner Bros</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Major franchises</h3>Two of the biggest franchises under Warner Bros are <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> and <i>Harry Potter</i>. The former is set to get several new films in the coming years, while the latter is being revived as a major TV series in late 2026.
Then there is DC Comics, which has never managed to match Marvel, but nevertheless has huge potential with Batman, Superman and others.
The biggest franchise from HBO is <i>Game of Thrones</i>, which has since spawned two spinoffs called <i>House of the Dragon</i> and <i>A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms</i>. More are on the way, including <i>10,000 Ships</i>. There is, of course, also a long list of other HBO series.
The merger brings together major film franchises such as <i>Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, Transformers, MonsterVerse, The Conjuring, A Quiet Place, Mortal Kombat</i> and last but not least <i>Star Trek</i>, which is also a series franchise. <i>Gremlins</i> is making a comeback soon. Skydance will also gain distribution rights to the <i>Dune</i> films, including the upcoming third installment.
Finally, there is plenty of kids' and family content such as <i>SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sonic, Tom & Jerry, Dora the Explorer</i> and <i>Looney Tunes</i> as well as <i>South Park</i>.
Skydance has released this sizzle reel:
<style>.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; }</style><div class='embed-container'><iframe src='https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/k4EGNG4Nbts' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<h3>Skydance's release strategy</h3>New films will hit cinemas first. As part of several settlements with competition authorities and US states, Skydance has committed to releasing <a href="https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1773228288"><b>more than 30 theatrical films per year</b></a> – a commitment Netflix would presumably not have made had it acquired Warner.
The settlement agreement covers 30 films per year for the first 2 years, after which Skydance has committed to at least 32 films over the following 3 years. Skydance will face a $30 million penalty for each missed film and will be forced to sell Miramax if it fails to comply. At least 20 films must be wide theatrical releases, and at least 20% of all films must have a budget of more than $50 million.
Another question concerns release windows. We know the following for certain: New films will get at least 45 days exclusively in cinemas and cannot arrive on HBO Max or Paramount+ (SkyShowtime in Europe) until 90 days have passed. What happens in between has not been defined. The support for the theatrical model suggests that films will be made available for purchase/rental (VOD) in the meantime before eventually landing on the subscription streaming services, but we do not know this for certain yet. This agreement was made with US authorities, but we expect Skydance to streamline its release strategy globally.
As for series, we should probably expect new HBO series such as <i>Harry Potter</i> and shows from the <i>GoT</i> universe to still be released on HBO Max, while Paramount content will be spread across the various services, including Paramount+ and SkyShowtime. At least until the streaming services merge later on.
