Ellison Closes $111 Billion Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

David Ellison closed a $111 billion deal this week merging Paramount with Warner Bros., creating a studio group that owns two film studios plus brands including HBO, CBS, MTV, NewLine and Adult Swim.

At a press conference on the Warner lot, Ellison touted the merged company's intellectual property catalogue. The combined entity holds franchises ranging from Harry Potter and DC's Batman to Star Trek and Mission: Impossible, alongside Transformers, G.I. Joe and The LEGO Movie.

But legal rights chains will prevent most cross-franchise character mashups. Warner Bros. can adapt Lord of the Rings only through a licensing agreement with J.R.R. Tolkien's estate. Paramount owns Star Trek outright thanks to its 2019 merger with CBS, which controlled the original 1960s series but not the subsequent films. Batman is controlled outright by Warner Bros. through its ownership of DC Comics.

The studio has abandoned plans to bring G.I. Joe and Transformers together on the big screen, according to IndieWire. In 2022, Brian Robbins, then leading Paramount Pictures, sought to unite the two cinematic universes while making Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. Steven Spielberg, executive producer of the Transformers franchise, gave sign-off for a G.I. Joe cameo in a coda to the film, and Hasbro blessed the cameo and future crossover projects.

Michael Bay, director of the first four Transformers movies, initially held out, worried the crossover would cheapen the series, before eventually signing off. Robbins was ousted when Ellison's Skydance bought Paramount in 2025.