Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison speaks at the Bloomberg Screen Time Conference in Los Angeles on October 9, 2025.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
Hollywood may soon have a new box office king.
and paramount skydance is set to take over warner bros discoverya consolidated film studio could dominate the theatrical slate.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has repeatedly promised not to pull production from either studio, with the goal of producing 30 films a year (15 from Paramount and 15 from Warner Bros.). The pending deal, which has an enterprise value of $111 billion, is subject to regulatory approval in both the U.S. and Europe.
As things stand now in 2027, WBD and Paramount combined will have 26 theatrical releases. However, that addition to the calendar could be announced as early as April at the annual CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas.
This behemoth is dominated by Warner Bros. films, and those films will likely drive the majority of ticket sales.
The studio plans to release films from major franchises including Godzilla Kong, Superman, Batman, Minecraft, The Conjuring universe, Gremlins, and The Lord of the Rings.
Meanwhile, Paramount is planning new entries in Sonic the Hedgehog, Paranormal Activity, A Quiet Place, and its animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.
From Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”.
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Paramount’s series is popular and has strong ticket sales, but its major releases in 2027 will be low-budget films. In fact, no film in any of these four series grossed more than $350 million worldwide, according to ComScore data. But if you have a small budget, you don’t have to do that to make a profit.
Warner Bros.” Meanwhile, part of the slate includes larger-budget productions that have generated bigger box office returns in the past. The most recent Godzilla Kong movie grossed $572 million worldwide, followed by 2025’s The Conjuring: The Last Rites with nearly $500 million, The Batman with $772 million, and the Minecraft movie with nearly $1 billion.
“When you look at the upcoming movies from the PAR and WBD combo, that’s the most impressive one,” Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, told CNBC. “And it may be fair to say that that slate actually has the potential to generate the biggest box office gross for a single studio in 2027.”
Warner Bros. movie studio is a big part of why Mr. Ellison worked so hard to win over WBD’s board and shareholders in a bidding war with WBD. comcast and Netflix. Last year, Warner Bros. was the second-highest grossing studio at the domestic and global box office. Paramount was fifth.
Disney has long held the box office heavyweight title, but was briefly dethroned by Universal in 2023. Warner and Universal are vying for second and third place, with Sony, Lionsgate and Paramount close behind.
tricky feat
“Doubling down on two major titles increases the likelihood of a very strong 2027, but there’s never a sure thing when it comes to envisioning what will likely be the year’s top box office winners across studios,” said Sean Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “Especially when Disney, Universal, and others are bringing their respective marquee players into the world next year.”
In particular, Disney is planning series such as Ice Age, Star Wars, Frozen, and The Avengers for 2027.
Of course, franchise heavyweights aren’t always guaranteed success at the box office, but Paramount and Warner Bros.’ joint effort is an attractive offering for an industry that has shrunk dramatically over the past decade.
“While the idea of two major studios coming under one big umbrella in 2027 raises some fair speculation, it also poses an interesting prospect,” Robbins said. “We’ve seen a decline in theatrical production in the years following Disney’s acquisition of Fox, but caveats like the pandemic and the explosion of streaming have skewed this comparison somewhat.”
There are also some logistical issues with the Paramount and Warner Bros. merger plan. With only 52 weekends and 30 movies on the calendar, studios must strategically place releases to avoid cannibalizing their own ticket sales.
David Corenswet stars in Warner Bros.’ Superman. ” “Superman.”
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Robbins noted that rival studios typically only play against each other on the same or consecutive weekends if they’re confident there’s no significant overlap in viewership. This is why, for example, horror films are often released at the same time as family-friendly animated films.
In contrast, Robbins pointed out that Paramount plans to release Sonic the Hedgehog 4 just a week earlier than Warner Bros. “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova”.
“The parent studio wants to do what’s best for their financial bottom line while minimizing risk and remaining competitive, so it wouldn’t be a shock if either of them moved around on the calendar,” he said.
Ellison has touted 30 films to be released after 2027, but it’s unclear whether that future is possible.
Traditionally, when two major studios merge, the number of films released declines and there is a large wave of layoffs as the merger eliminates redundancies. Not to mention, marketing costs for big-budget movies can be prohibitive.
“It remains to be seen what will actually become normal for the newly combined companies of Paramount and Warner,” Robbins said. “Whether such a slate will last beyond 2027 will be difficult to manufacture, but it’s far from impossible.”
Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.
