Paramount CEO David Ellison Reiterates 30-Film Slate With Warner Bros.

Paramount Skydance has nearly doubled its theatrical-film slate in 2026 — but it will see “significantly” lower box office revenue overall from those movies, according to the company.

David Ellison, Paramount Skydance’s chairman and chief executive officer, said the company is “firmly committed” to releasing 30 films theatrically per year once it merges with Warner Bros. Discovery. Speaking on Paramount’s Q1 2026 earnings call, Ellison said Paramount grew its slate from eight films in 2025 to 15 in 2026, and that Warner Bros. also has 15 films on its release schedule this year.

“The two companies are actually making 30 films to date, which I think is important to note,” Ellison said, and that number is “accelerating.”

However, for 2026, Paramount expects “significantly lower theatrical revenue year-over-year due to lower average box office revenue per film across more releases in 2026 as we build into our 2027+ slates,” the company said in its Q1 shareholder letter. At the same time, Paramount expects studio segment profitability to increase in 2026 versus 2025, with growth driven by “accelerating licensing and other revenues,” including a full-year impact of legacy Skydance revenue and higher licensing across Paramount Television Studios and CBS Studios.

Ellison, speaking about the WBD deal on Monday’s earnings call, said, “We really view our pending acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery as a powerful accelerant to our strategy… It positions us really well to build a next-generation media and technology company.” He said the company is on track to close the deal by September 2026, which is what Paramount and WBD have targeted. The combined Paramount-WBD will have more than 200 million subscribers in over 200 countries, he said, which “positions us well” to compete with against streaming rivals.

Paramount won the $111 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in late February after Netflix declined to raise its offer for Warner Bros.’s streaming and studios businesses. The Paramount-WBD merger is still pending regulatory approvals, and several state attorneys general have been considering whether to sue to block the deal.

To help fund the WBD deal, Paramount Skydance is getting funding from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which together have together committed $24 billion toward the merger. The combined Paramount-WBD will be 49.5% owned by foreign investors, Paramount disclosed in an FCC filing. About 38.5% of the equity in the new company will be owned by the three Middle Eastern funds.

For Q1, Paramount’s studios revenue increased 11% year-over-year to $1.3 billion. That included better-than-expected box office performance of “Scream 7” (which pulled in $122 million domestically and nearly $208 million worldwide, the best in the franchise’s history) and the consolidation of Skydance licensing revenue into Paramount Television Studios.

Paramount’s upcoming film slate includes “Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour,” directed by James Cameron and Billie Eilish (May 8), followed over Memorial Day weekend by supernatural thriller “Passenger,” and two weeks later, “Scary Movie,” part of its first-look deal with Miramax. On June 26, “Jackass: Best and Last,” the fifth and final installment in the franchise, is set to hit theaters.

Pictured above: “Scream 7”