Paramount Skydance shocked the entertainment world last month with its second big entertainment acquisition of 2026. So how does this affect the film industry?
The company acquired Warner Bros. Discovery on Feb. 26 after outbidding streaming giant Netflix with a $111 billion deal. Some movie fans were surprised as Netflix had looked like the front runner.
The move follow’s Paramount’s recent announcement in January, that it acquired the U.S streaming rights to the UFC.
Some individuals however, were skeptical on the deal being legit, noting Paramount’s CEO David Ellison is good friends with U.S. President Donald Trump
“Having friends in the White House kind of helped push that merger,” said Andrew Dodd, manager of Film London.
The deal could be good for Paramount+ subscribers, but could leave many working for Paramount may be without a job, said Dodd.
Logo of the London Economic Development Corporation building where Film London is (Noah Paradis/ XFM News)
“Anytime you’ll see a merger of companies, executive are gonna say ‘okay, we used to have five people in sales over here and five people in sales over there, but now that we’re one big company, nine of you are getting laid off,’” said Dodd.
Streaming will allow more local films to make it to worldwide audiences, he said.
“In theory, streaming should open the doors because you’ve got more companies than ever that are developing or distributing content and its much cheaper than it was to produce for.”
It could raise a question about which film company is going to be in the next merger.
“Look at whatever major studios are left and that would be Universal Studios,” said Dodd. “So that’s where I could see maybe Amazon or Netflix coming in with a deal.”
With the film industry becoming more dominant in streaming, local producers may have to ship off their films to services instead of the traditional theatre that may slowly be dying out.
