| NETFLIX, WHOSE $83B WARNER BROS. TAKEOVER IS SET FOR SHAREHOLDER VOTE NEXT MONTH, RIPS PARAMOUNT'S "ANTICS" |
The plot is thickening in the months-long Warner Bros. battle. This morning, the board of directors of Warner Bros. Discovery said it will conduct a week of formal negotiations with Paramount after the David Ellison-led company last week sweetened its hostile bid for WBD.
Paramount says it will raise its offer to $31 per share, from $30, and continues to insist it offers more value to shareholders. WBD set a shareholder vote next month on the pending $82.7 billion proposal for Netflix to acquire the studios-and-streaming unit of WBD. Under that scenario, the global networks business would spin off into a separate entity.
In acknowledging its granting of permission for WBD to conduct negotiations with Paramount, Netflix ripped its rival's "antics" and reiterated its assertion that a Par-WBD deal would result in many thousands of layoffs. A Netflix-Warner combination, the streaming giant insists, would bring complementary assets together with fewer cuts and more returns for shareholders given the upside of the global networks. >>>Temperature Rising |
Deadline Exclusives & Originals |
Mighty Mouse - In a weekend with the first biggest global openings of 2026 with Warner Bros/MRC’s Wuthering Heights ($83M), Sony’s Goat ($50.6M) and Amazon MGM Studio’s Crime 101 ($28.2M), Disney is heralding that it is the first major motion picture studio to cross $1 billion at the worldwide B.O. in 2026, just seven weeks into the year. >>> Breakdown
Merger Impact – As buyers and sellers from around the world get ready to descend on the UK capital for the London TV Screenings, many are mulling the pending merger between French-headquartered behemoth Banijay and RedBird-owned production giant All3 Media. The transaction would being together the likes of The Traitors producer Studio Lambert, Peaky Blinders indie Kudos, The Tourist maker Two Brothers and Neal Street, which is behind the upcoming quartet of Beatles movies directed by Sam Mendes. Given that both have hefty distribution arms, the impact of the deal could cut a few different ways. >>>Deadline's Analysis
By The Book - Reed Morano has been set to direct Player Piano, an adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel. Scripted by Matthew Walker, the picture will be made by Fabulascope, Picture Films and Verdi Productions. >>> AI-Adjacent Themes
'Night Agent' S4 Writers Room Underway - The Night Agent series creator Shawn Ryan has told Deadline that while Season 4 is not officially picked up at Netflix, "In calendar year 2025, they did quietly pick up a writers room.” The interview was tied to the release of Season 3. >>> Timeline
The Love List 2026 - The Love List is back with another round of picks for the 12 best unproduced, romance-centered screenplays and pilots of the year. The list was curated by a group of anonymous readers, in addition to its co-founders, writer Lindsay Grossman and Olive Bridge TV exec Madison Jones. >>> 12 Picks
SPT Layoffs - Sony Pictures Television is planning to offer buyouts to executives in select areas, sources tell Deadline. There has been confusion among Sony TV staffers this week, with many getting the impression that this would be a broad offering across the studio due to miscommunication. >>> Targeted Cuts
Target Identified - The Assassin is coming back. Prime Video has confirmed a second season of the thriller series has been greenlit, with production kicking off later this year. Season 2 is full speed ahead on a new run of the drama, which was created and written by Harry and Jack Williams and stars Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore. >>> Plotline
Sky News Cuts - Sky News is set to close a small number of senior behind-the-scenes roles as the Comcast-owned network prioritizes digital content over the coming years. A handful of department head-level employees are in consultation over their future, though precise numbers have not been confirmed. >>> Newsroom Evolving |
Jessie Buckley hadn’t read Maggie O’Farrell’s book Hamnet when she first met writer-director Chloé Zhao. “I was at Telluride Film Festival,” she says. “I was there with Women Talking and they do another class photograph there. We were there doing this photograph and all of a sudden I saw Chloé [waving]. And I was like, “Me? What?” And she came bounding over to me.”
They sat down for breakfast a week later. “I still didn’t know about Hamnet and we talked about motherhood and death and we were just talking around the subject. Then when I left, my agent said, ‘It’s actually in relation to this book called Hamnet.’ I got the book and read it in one night. I couldn’t go to sleep until I finished it. And that was kind of it. The rest was about creating it together.” >>>Read The Interview |
QUOTABLE "He should step down"- Mayor Karen Bass on Casey Wasserman's position as the head of Los Angeles’ 2028 Olympic Games |
ExclusiveTèa Leoni is returning to broadcast — and multi-camera comedy — with a starring role in NBC‘s pilot Newlyweds, co-created by Gail Lerner and Jamie Lee Curtis. Landing Leoni, who had multiple pilot offers, firmed up Newlyweds' green light, which had been cast-contingent.
ExclusiveDaniel Kaluuya is in talks to star in Together director Michael Shanks’ next sci-fi thriller Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel.
ExclusiveLeslie Grossman (American Horror Story) has joined the recurring cast of the hit Starz series Power Book III: Raising Kanan for its upcoming fifth and final season.
ExclusiveRobert and Michelle King’s new CBS series, Cupertino, has added Nik Dodani (Atypical) as a series regular.
Stephen Amell is the first star to be cast in Matt Nix’s Baywatch reboot for Fox. He will play the series regular role of Hobie Buchannon, a character from the original series. |
BY THE NUMBERS $7.2B - Revenue for Japan's premium streaming sector in 2025 |
MORE NEWS
🚨 At the top of his monologue last night, Stephen Colbert told audience that Texas state representative James Talarico, though supposed to be there, would not appear on The Late Show . "We were told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast," Colbert announced. The interview was scheduled amid heightened regulatory scrutiny of compliance with federal "equal time" rules on broadcast airwaves.
🥊 Netflix is getting into the MMA world and is staging a fight between two of sports most successful female competitors. The streamer is launching a fight between Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano on May 16 at the Intuit Dome in L.A.
👀 Almost three quarters (74%) of workers in UK film and TV have considered leaving due to financial pressure over the past year. The boss of the Film & TV Charity, which authored the Money Matters report, said the industry faces “serious risk” without “meaningful, co-ordinated action.”
🤖 TikTok-owner ByteDance has promised to improve “safeguards” on its Seedance 2.0 AI model after a full-throated backlash from Hollywood about copyright theft.
🏆 Favorites Train Dreams and Sorry, Baby were multi-category winners at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, with the former taking home Best Feature, Director and Cinematography and the latter being awarded with Best Screenplay and Supporting Performance.
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OBITUARIES
🕯️ Reverend Jesse Jackson, the civil rights activist who fought tirelessly for decades, has died age 84. 🕯️ Shelly Desai, the Bombay-born character actor familiar to TV audiences for his recurring roles on the FX series It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia comedy and TNT’s Men of A Certain Age, died Tuesday, February 10, in Los Angeles. He was 90. 🕯️ Frederick Wiseman, the renowned and prolific documentary filmmaker who focused his lens on all parts American society and its institutions for almost 60 year and was given an honorary Oscar in 2016, died Monday. He was 96. 🕯️ Billy Steinberg , a Hall of Fame songwriter who co-wrote Madonna‘s smash “Like a Virgin” and four other U.S. No. 1 singles including Whitney Houston’s “So Emotional” and The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame,” died Monday of cancer in Brentwood. He was 75. 🕯️ Dana Eden, an Israeli producer who was working on Apple TV’s Tehran , has died unexpectedly during filming in Greece. According to Hebrew media, which was quoted by the Times of Israel, Eden was found lifeless in an Athens hotel on Sunday by her brother. She was 52. 🕯️ 2026 Deaths Photo Gallery |
| ON THE RADAR
Tue - Lunar New Year
Wed - 56 Days premieres
Thu - The Night Agent premieres
Sat - Annie Awards
Sun - Olympics closing ceremony; Paramount tender offer expires |
Screen Icon - Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor acclaimed for his iconic performances in the Godfather films, Apocalypse Now, Tender Mercies, Lonesome Dove, Network and many others, died Sunday night at his home in Middleburg, Virginia. He was 95. |
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