Skydance mashes proven properties of Paramount and Warner Bros. into an uncertain Hollywood hybrid

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Continuity will be the immediate emphasis for Skydance, the newly created entertainment behemoth borne of Paramount's $81 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery that closed on Tuesday.For now, it will show off its bulging bundle of intellectual properties, with the official announcement touting “a franchise portfolio spanning Top Gun and Harry Potter to White Lotus and SpongeBob SquarePants.”Several such lists could be made without any overlap. Tony Soprano is now under the same roof as Michael Corleone.

Tolkien and Taylor Sheridan now share a home. And the DC Universe is in the same space as “Star Trek.”Both companies also have a storied history — some of it even recent — of non-franchise creations, whose creators are worried about what will be left for them as big swaths of Hollywood fear for their jobs and productions.Moviegoers and TV viewers may wonder what all the fuss was about in the short run, while in the long run they may not recognize the landscape that's left.Here’s a look at how the consumption and production of film and television will look in the near future.What does it mean for TV and streaming?The streaming services that provide the most direct interface viewers have with the two merged companies — HBO Max for Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount+ for Paramount — will look the same Wednesday as they did Tuesday, but they won't stay that way.In its announcement of the completed deal, echoing what CEO David Ellison previously told shareholders, Skydance said the two streamers “will unify into a single service over time.” No timeline was given.The classic broadcast and cable properties the two companies own that feed those services — HBO, TNT, HGTV, and Food Network for Warner Bros.

Discovery and CBS, MTV, BET and Nickelodeon for Paramount — should also show no short-term evidence of change, but that won't mean major upheaval isn't coming.Combined, the two services have well over 200 million subscribers, though it’s not wholly clear how much overlap there is between the two. HBO Max’s share of that is nearly double that of Paramount+. That could have an effect on the branding of the chimera to come, and some of the HBO Max name — which Warner Bros.

Discovery previously tried to drop in favor of just Max — could live on.“I do not believe the consumer is going to observe the difference in the orga… For now, it will show off its bulging bundle of intellectual properties, with the official announcement touting “a franchise portfolio spanning Top Gun and Harry Potter to White Lotus and SpongeBob SquarePants.” Several such lists could be made without any overlap. Moviegoers and TV viewers may wonder what all the fuss was about in the short run, while in the long run they may not recognize the landscape that’s left.

Here’s a look at how the consumption and production of film and television will look in the near future. What does it mean for TV and streaming? The streaming services that provide the most direct interface viewers have with the two merged companies — HBO Max for Warner Bros.

In its announcement of the completed deal, echoing what CEO David Ellison previously told shareholders, Skydance said the two streamers “will unify into a single service over time.” No timeline was given. The classic broadcast and cable properties the two companies own that feed those services — HBO, TNT, HGTV, and Food Network for Warner Bros. Combined, the two services have well over 200 million subscribers, though it’s not wholly clear how much overlap there is between the two.