Paramount is killing journalism, could it kill film too?

Step aside Netflix, Paramount means business.

The bidding war over Warner Bros., HBO and other Warner Bros. Discovery networks has taken a turn after Netflix, who initially seemed to have secured the deal, were outbid by Paramount Skydance. Despite its original $72 billion deal, Netflix has backed out of the running after Paramount offered a $110 billion counterbid.

While this Paramount-led deal is not yet sealed, it seems likely that Washington and overseas governments will eventually give Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison the go-ahead, with the studio expecting the deal to close in late summer.

The deal could also mean that the stories told in cinemas may begin to change too

The merger would impose huge changes to the streaming landscape and the financial hierarchy of Hollywood, but with control over filmmaking at Warner Bros., the deal could also mean that the stories told in cinemas may begin to change too.

Fears over what Paramount could do to film distribution, particularly to which kinds of films are distributed, may be partially founded in the studio’s actions after its acquisition of CBS in 2025. Paramount has allegedly repressed editorial independence at CBS in what University of Pennsylvania Scholar Victor Pickard calls “media capture”.

This has coincided with the resignation and firing of CBS journalists, the stepping down of prestigious late-night host Anderson Cooper and the widely spectated mistreatment of Stephen Colbert. All of this contributes to apprehensions that similar treatment will be given by Paramount to WB-owned news outlet CNN in the continuation of an era hailed by some as a danger to democracy.

Paramount, Ellison, and particularly his father Larry Ellison – Oracle co-founder and a “centibillionaire” – are friendly with US President Donald Trump, and since acquiring CBS, Paramount Skydance has appointed Bari Weiss, the founder of an “anti-woke” startup called The Free Press, as its editor-in-chief and another of Trump’s allies as its ombudsman. Considering this alongside Paramount’s actions against CBS and Trump’s public hatred of CNN, it seems likely that Paramount would target CNN after the deal goes through.

With a company this willing to capitulate to government-led suppression in charge, it seems highly unlikely that Warner Bros. could release the culturally relevant films it does today

With a company this willing to capitulate to government-led suppression in charge, it seems highly unlikely that Warner Bros. could release the culturally relevant films it does today. During a conference call which took place after Paramount’s counterbid, Ellison praised WB’s “powerhouse slate”. While he lauded blockbusters Superman and Minecraft, Ellison chose not to mention the box-office hit Sinners or the award-dominating One Battle After Another.

While Ellison maintained that Paramount and WB will deliver “a broad pipeline of high quality storytelling”, the absence of those two successful 2025 films leaves doubts about the types of storytelling we will see in this new era of Warner Bros.. A political revolution narrative like that of One Battle After Another certainly seems unlikely.

Thankfully, Ellison assured that Paramount and Warner Bros. will remain separate movie studios, each releasing roughly 15 films per year. Considering that Paramount only released eight films in 2025, with WB releasing 11, this would be a promising increase. Ellison continued by affirming that the two studios will work with a 45-day theatrical window, giving releases their rightful time in cinemas before a release on digital and streaming.

If the stories themselves, though, are watered down money-making machines like Minecraft, audiences may have to rely on other studios for the nuanced, thought-provoking and boundary-pushing stories which, until now, WB has delivered. Paramount’s MAGA alignments and huge plans for cinema releases make it plausible that cinemas could end up hosting Republican propaganda all year round.

Bizarrely, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav does not seem to be concerned over the stories his studio will produce under Paramount, and said in a statement that he “can’t wait to get started working together telling the stories that move the world”.

What Zaslav may be overlooking is that Paramount only seems interested in moving the world one way – further to the right.

Astoundingly, the single glimmer of hope here may be Donald Trump himself. The President will play a monumental role in the success of this deal as Ellison will be relying on his father’s relationship with Trump for a boost in the deal’s approval.

Unfortunately for the Paramount CEO, Trump has recently changed his tune on Ellison and Paramount after they allowed an interview with former Trump sympathiser Marjorie Taylor Greene on their show 60 Minutes. Trump ranted on Truth Social, declaring Ellison had made the show “WORSE” since gaining ownership of it.

Give it another week and Trump might hate Ellison enough to stop the deal altogether.

Paramount seems all too likely to send films produced by Warner Bros. in a much less revolutionary direction if the deal were to go through

For now, Ellison’s Paramount will obviously continue to promote the idea that its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery will be a collaborative and creative new era. However, with the Republican political agenda overpowering its journalism and seeping into its entertainment properties, Paramount seems all too likely to send films produced by Warner Bros. in a much less revolutionary direction if the deal were to go through.

Fans of boundary-pushing cinema can only hope that the deal falls flat, but the creatives behind WB’s most nuanced films should seriously prepare for one battle after another.