Paramount–Skydance merger closes: what it could mean for Yellowstone, Top Gun, and Chalamet-era bets in film and TV

Paramount–Skydance merger closes: what it could mean for Yellowstone, Top Gun, and Chalamet-era bets in film and TV

A new corporate entity and fresh leadership at a legacy studio

Paramount’s merger with Skydance is now complete, creating a rebranded company called “Paramount, A Skydance Corporation,” after clearing a series of obstacles—ranging from internal resistance tied to late-night talent to a related 60 Minutes settlement dispute. The $8bn deal ushers in a new leadership slate: Skydance founder David Ellison becomes Paramount’s CEO, while Dana Goldberg (a veteran Skydance executive) and Josh Greenstein (formerly of Sony) will serve as co-presidents of Paramount Pictures. The consolidation caps years of speculation about Paramount’s fate as a global media conglomerate seen as less stable than Disney, Sony, Universal, or Warner Bros., even as Warner has grappled with its own volatility.

Ellison’s track record and the franchise calculus

Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, began producing with 2005’s aviation drama Flyboys, then launched Skydance in 2006, methodically aligning with Paramount on co-financing and co-producing major franchises. Skydance has been attached to key Paramount brands (Mission: Impossible, Star Trek), fresh franchise attempts and revivals (Jack Reacher, Jack Ryan, multiple Terminator entries), and the mega-hit Top Gun: Maverick, which earned Ellison a Best Picture nomination. With Ellison at the helm, observers are watching whether Paramount doubles down on Top Gun and similarly high-octane “legacy IP” as cornerstone, billion-dollar nostalgia plays.

Not a tech takeover, not a Disney-style absorption

Unlike acquisitions that fold a studio into a rival (as with 20th Century Fox’s absorption into Disney), this deal keeps Paramount from being swallowed and preserves its identity under Ellison’s younger, hands-on leadership. Nor does it place Paramount under a technology giant; Skydance remains an entertainment-first company, even if its culture is less auteur-driven than Annapurna, the prestige outfit founded by Ellison’s sister, Megan. The upshot is stability without ceding control to another Big Five studio or a Big Tech conglomerate—at least for now.

News division sensitivities and a fraying cable bundle

Skydance’s narrow focus raises questions about how the new leadership will steer areas beyond tentpole films, including CBS News. Ellison has pledged to safeguard CBS’s reliability and independence, even as a 60 Minutes producer resigned pre-merger amid complaints of Paramount interference. Ellison’s public framing of audiences as largely “center-right” or “center-left” has fueled concern that editorial choices could tilt toward placating perceived viewer segments. Meanwhile, the erosion of cable economics continues to challenge Paramount’s flagship networks (MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Showtime). While these brands are deeply woven into Paramount’s identity—Nickelodeon in particular has fed both film and TV hits—retention will not insulate them from restructuring or layoffs.

Sheridan’s TV empire, streaming priorities, and the “mid-budget buster”

Given Paramount’s linear TV heritage and political triangulation, Taylor Sheridan’s centrist-appeal Western universe looks poised to grow in importance on the traditional side. Still, the company says streaming and “non-linear” are priorities, and Ellison’s first communiqué touted premium, streaming-first films and series. Skydance’s streaming résumé, however, tilts toward expensive-but-disposable fare—Ghosted, Heart of Stone, 6 Underground—projects that play like would-be blockbusters yet feel like algorithmic “mock-hits,” often echoing the theatrical thrillers Paramount made in the 2000s and 2010s.

Animation gambits, mixed results, and new projects in the pipeline

Skydance’s push into animation under former Pixar chief John Lasseter has produced uneven results to date, including the widely panned Luck (Apple TV+) and Spellbound (Netflix). Upcoming efforts include an animated feature from Incredibles creator Brad Bird and a new series titled Pookoo. On the live-action side, Skydance is shooting Matchbox, based on the toy-car brand. These titles are not part of Paramount’s immediate slate post-merger but may hint at the creative instincts guiding the studio rebuild.

Can Paramount revive its adult-drama streak alongside franchise firepower?

The strategic question is whether Skydance can nurture projects that aren’t pure IP mining or trend-chasing. Paramount’s most interesting recent run—mid/late-2010s—saw the studio back ambitious, adult-leaning films such as Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!!, Alexander Payne’s Downsizing, Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, Martin Scorsese’s Silence, and Denzel Washington’s Fences, while still delivering sturdy franchise entries like Star Trek Beyond and multiple Mission: Impossible installments. Skydance’s initial signals don’t scream a pivot to that lane—yet there are early glimmers.

First big swing: Mangold + Chalamet

Encouragingly, the first announced Paramount Pictures deal under co-presidents Goldberg and Greenstein is an original feature, High Side, directed by James Mangold and starring Timothée Chalamet—an unmistakably classic pairing of A-list filmmaker and marquee star. If Ellison and his deputies can balance this kind of prestige-forward bet with franchise maintenance, Paramount could rediscover strands of its 1970s thriller DNA, the star-driven comedies of the ’80s and ’90s, and the inventive cross-pollination that came from its MTV lineage.

The road ahead: deep pockets, a tech-adjacent mindset, and execution risk

Ellison is not a tech CEO, but his lineage—backed by Oracle-scale resources—could shape a capital-intensive, data-aware strategy. The risk is defaulting to safe imitation and legacy IP strip-mining. The opportunity is to leverage Skydance’s production muscle to refresh Paramount’s franchises while seeding distinctive originals that feel like events, not just content. Whether the “new Paramount” can move beyond fighter jets and toy cars to a broader creative bandwidth will determine if this merger yields merely more of the same—or a genuine reinvigoration of a storied Hollywood brand.