Kalshi traders currently price Netflix as the most likely company to take over Warner Bros., but Paramount Skydance’s chairman and chief executive officer, David Ellison, isn’t planning to let it happen without a fight.
Deadline reported that Ellison and other Paramount executives plan to nominate directors to the board at Warner Bros. Discovery’s 2026 annual meeting and block approval of Netflix’s deal. Paramount also filed a lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court asking for access to “basic information to enable Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to make [an] informed decision” about their shares in the company.
Traders still have Netflix at the top of the market to take over Warner Bros. at 69%.
Paramount’s down but not out
Ellison’s plans to fight the Netflix takeover mean that Paramount could still be in the running to take control of Warner Bros. Traders predict Paramount has a 24% chance of acquiring the studio giant by December.
Ellison first launched his hostile takeover plans for Warner Bros. in December of last year with the backing of his family’s company RedBird Capital Partners and other wealth funds. Ellison called Netflix’s $82.7 billion deal to take over Warner Bros. and split the company from Discovery as a separate entity an “inferior proposal” in a company statement.
But what about the movies?
Ellison’s plans to draw out the takeover fight and prevent Netflix from taking over and splitting up Warner Bros. Discovery could also have an effect on some of the studio’s most anticipated film releases. The prolonged uncertainty of the studio’s ownership could delay budget approval and create new legal challenges that cause delays in production schedules.
One project traders are watching closely is The Batman Part II, starring Robert Pattinson, which is expected to hit theaters on Oct. 1, 2027. News of this financial shutdown could push back its release date a bit farther.
The odds of a delayed release jumped to 42.1 percent, rising 11.1 percent within an hour of trading, although it has since returned to 34%.
The release date for the sequel to director Matt Reeves’ new, darker vision of the Batman universe was first announced in early 2023, only to be pushed back by a year in December of 2024. DC Studios’ chief James Gunn said on the Smartless podcast that the studio decided to bump back the release date to give Reeves more time to finish the script “the way he wants.”
The takeaway:
Kalshi markets now forecast:
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