Paramount-WBD 2027 movie slate could dominate. Can it sustain?
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison 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 king of the box office.
With Paramount Skydance ready to take over Warner Bros. Discoverycombined movie studios could dominate the theater slate.
Paramount CEO David Ellison has repeatedly promised that neither studio will back away from production, with a goal of making 30 movies a year — 15 from Paramount and 15 from Warner Bros. The pending transaction, which has an enterprise value of $111 billion, requires regulatory approval in both the US and Europe.
With a current 2027 slate available, the combination of WBD and Paramount will result in 26 theatrical releases. However, additions to this schedule may be made at the annual CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas in April.
In this huge list, Warner Bros. movies dominate, and these movies are likely to account for the majority of ticket sales.
The studio will release films of major series such as Godzilla-Kong, Superman, Batman, Minecraft, The Conjuring Universe, Gremlins and Lord of the Rings.
Meanwhile, Paramount will have new entries in the Sonic the Hedgehog, Paranormal Activity, A Quiet Place and animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series.
Still from Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” movie.
extraordinary
While Paramount’s franchises are popular and generate solid ticket sales at the box office, its major releases in 2027 are smaller-budget features. In fact, no film in any of these four franchises has earned more than $350 million worldwide, according to Comscore’s data. However, this is not necessary to be profitable with smaller budgets.
Warner Bros.’ On the other hand, some of the roster has bigger budget features that have historically yielded bigger box office returns. The latest Godzilla-Kong movie earned $572 million worldwide; 2025’s “The Conjuring: Last Rites” grossed nearly $500 million, “The Batman” grossed $772 million and “A Minecraft Movie” reached almost $1 billion.
“When you look at the movies on the horizon from the PAR/WBD combination, it’s very impressive,” Paul Dergarabedian, head of market trends at Comscore, told CNBC. “And it might not be an exaggeration to say that this slate could indeed have the potential to create the biggest single studio box office in 2027.”
Warner Bros. the movie studio is a big part of why Ellison is so determined to win over WBD’s board and shareholders in the bidding war. comcast And netflix. Last year, Warner Bros. It became the second studio with the highest grossing at the domestic and international box office. Paramount placed fifth.
Disney had long held the title of box office heavyweight, although it was briefly ousted by Universal in 2023. Warner and Universal are vying for second and third place, with Sony, Lionsgate and Paramount following behind.
A challenging feat
“Doubling down on two major slates adds to a very strong 2027 potential, but nothing is certain when it comes to assuming a potential annual box office winner among studios,” said Director of Analytics Shawn Robbins. Founder of Fandango and Box Office Theory. “This is especially true as companies like Disney and Universal will each bring out their own strong players next year.”
Disney, in particular, has franchises such as Ice Age, Star Wars, Frozen and Avengers for 2027.
Of course, franchise tentpoles aren’t always guaranteed to be successful at the box office, but the joint effort from Paramount and Warner Bros. is an intriguing proposition for an industry that’s shrunk dramatically over the last decade.
“The idea of two major studios coming together under one large umbrella in 2027 presents an intriguing possibility while raising some fair speculation,” Robbins said. “We saw a decline in theatrical production in the years following Disney’s acquisition of Fox, but caveats such as the pandemic and streaming boom skew that comparison somewhat.”
The combined slate of Paramount and Warner Bros. also faces some logistical issues. With only 52 weekends and 30 films on the calendar, the studio will need to strategically place releases to avoid undermining its own ticket sales.
David Corenswet stars in Warner Bros.’ Superman. “Superman.”
Warner Bros. Discovery
Robbins noted that rival studios often compete head-to-head on the same weekend or back-to-back weekends if they make sure there is no major overlap in viewer demographics. So, for example, a horror movie set is often released alongside a family-friendly animated movie.
In contrast, Robbins noted that Paramount was scheduled to release “Sonic the Hedgehog 4” just a week before Warner Bros. “Godzilla X Kong: Supernova.”
“It wouldn’t be a shock to see one of these moved early or late in the schedule, as the parent studio will want to minimize risk and do what’s best financially while maintaining competition,” he said.
Although Ellison has touted a slate of 30 films in the years after 2027, it’s unclear whether that future is possible.
Traditionally, when two major studios merge, the number of films released decreases and there is a massive wave of layoffs as consolidation eliminates layoffs. Not to mention that the marketing costs for big-budget films can be prohibitive.
“It remains to be seen what will actually become normal for the newly combined house of Paramount and Warner,” Robbins said. “It will be difficult to produce such a tablet with a long lifespan in the years after 2027, but never say never.”
Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.
