David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, speaks at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles on October 9, 2025.
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images
Hollywood may soon have a new box office king.
With Paramount Skydance ready to take over Discovery of Warner Bros.the combined movie studios could dominate the list of movie theaters.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has repeatedly promised not to cut production at either studio, with a goal of making 30 films a year – 15 for Paramount and 15 for Warner Bros. The pending transaction, with an enterprise value of $111 billion, still needs regulatory approval in the United States and Europe.
As things stand for 2027, the combination of WBD and Paramount would result in 26 theatrical releases. However, additions to this schedule could come as early as April during the annual CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas.
This giant list is dominated by Warner Bros. titles, and it’s likely that these films would account for the bulk of ticket sales.
The studio is preparing to release films from major franchises including Godzilla-Kong, Superman, Batman, Minecraft, The Conjuring universe, Gremlins and Lord of the Rings.
Meanwhile, Paramount will have new entries for Sonic the Hedgehog, Paranormal Activity, A Quiet Place and its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated franchises.
Excerpt from Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.”
Primordial
While Paramount’s franchises are popular and have generated strong box office ticket sales, its main releases in 2027 are low-budget films. In fact, no film from any of these four franchises has grossed more than $350 million worldwide, according to Comscore data. But with smaller budgets, this isn’t necessary to be profitable.
Warner Bros.’ some of the slate, on the other hand, has bigger budget features that have historically generated bigger box office revenues. The most recent Godzilla-Kong movie grossed $572 million worldwide, 2025’s “The Conjuring: Last Rites” raked in nearly $500 million, “The Batman” grossed $772 million and “A Minecraft Movie” nearly hit $1 billion.
“When you look at the films on the horizon for the PAR/WBD combo, it’s very impressive,” Paul Dergarabedian, head of market trends at Comscore, told CNBC. “And it may not be an exaggeration to say that this slate could actually have the potential to generate the biggest box office for a single studio in 2027.”
The Warner Bros. film studio. largely explains why Ellison was so determined to win over the WBD board and its shareholders in a bidding war against Comcast And Netflix. Last year, Warner Bros. was the second highest grossing studio at the domestic and worldwide box office. Paramount was fifth.
Disney has long held the box office heavyweight title, although it was briefly toppled in 2023 by Universal. Warner and Universal battled it out between second and third place, followed by Sony, Lionsgate and Paramount.
A delicate feat
“The doubling of two major slates adds to the potential for a very strong 2027, but nothing is ever certain when it comes to assuming a potential annual box office winner among studios,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “That’s especially true when Disney and Universal each introduce their own heavy hitters next year.”
Disney, in particular, has franchises like Ice Age, Star Wars, Frozen and Avengers on the schedule for 2027.
Of course, franchise success isn’t always guaranteed at the box office, but the combined efforts of Paramount and Warner Bros. constitute a compelling offering for an industry that has seen a dramatic decline over the past decade.
“The idea of two major studios under one big umbrella in 2027 is an intriguing prospect while raising legitimate speculation,” Robbins said. “We have seen a decline in film production in the years since Disney acquired Fox, although caveats such as the pandemic and the streaming explosion skew that comparison somewhat.”
A combined slate of Paramount and Warner Bros. is also facing logistical problems. There are only 52 weekends on the calendar, and with 30 films, the studio would have to strategically place its releases so as not to cannibalize its own ticket sales.
David Corenswet stars as Superman in Warner Bros. “Superman.”
Discovery of Warner Bros.
Robbins noted that rival studios typically only compete on the same weekend or on consecutive weekends if they are certain there is no major overlap in audience demographics. This is why it is often expected that a horror film will be released at the same time as a family animated feature film, for example.
In contrast, Robbins noted, Paramount is expected to release “Sonic the Hedgehog 4” just a week before Warner Bros. “Godzilla X Kong: Supernova.”
“It wouldn’t be a shock to see any of these moved earlier or later in the schedule since the parent studio will want to minimize risk and do what’s best for the bottom line while remaining competitive,” he said.
And even though Ellison has touted a slate of 30 films in the years after 2027, it’s unclear whether that future is feasible.
Traditionally, when two major studios merge, the number of films released decreases and there is a significant wave of layoffs as the consolidation eliminates layoffs. Not to mention, the marketing costs of big-budget films can be prohibitive.
“What will actually become normal for the new unified house of Paramount and Warner remains to be seen,” Robbins said. “The longevity of such a slate in the years after 2027 will be difficult to produce, but never say never.”
Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.