David Ellison has reaffirmed his commitment to release 30 films theatrically once Paramount merges with Warner Bros. Discovery.
“As we have consistently stated, we are committed to delivering a broad pipeline of high-quality storytelling, including 15 theatrical films per year per studio and at least 30 films per year in total,” Ellison told analysts on a conference call Monday.
“We truly believe that movies should be seen in theaters,” he added.
Ellison noted that Paramount plans to release at least 15 films in 2026 and claimed that Paramount has “already demonstrated the ability to ramp up production.” This is an increase from eight in 2025. Warner Bros. also missed Ellison’s goal of releasing 11 movies last year.
Ellison hailed Warner Bros.’ 2025 as a “great year,” while crediting hits like “Superman” and “Minecraft” with “boosting” the company’s box office revenue to $4 billion. He didn’t name-check “Sinners” or “One Battle After Another,” the two Warner films that dominated awards season.
Netflix had a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery until Paramount nixed the offer in an $110 billion deal, but it faced opposition from theater owners who feared the streamer would hurt their business and release fewer movies in theaters. The company’s CEO, Ted Sarandos, tried to allay their concerns, insisting that Netflix would keep its promises, but many exhibitors doubted his sincerity.
Ellison described his approach to theater from a personal perspective, saying that as head of the production company Skydance, he has seen first-hand the power of traditional big-screen releases.
“If you look at the theatrical space, which we truly believe in, we’re seeing big franchises and big intellectual properties being released in theaters,” Ellison said. “I personally learned this lesson in 2022, when ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ was basically the biggest box office grossing theatrical film and a cultural phenomenon, grossing $1.5 billion at the box office.”
“At the same time,” Ellison added. “That summer, we released ‘The Adam Project’ on Netflix, which was the most successful film on Netflix at the time of its release…(It) previewed incredibly well with audiences, but it had a different cultural resonance.”
How a theatrical release could propel a film into the cultural conversation influenced Ellison’s thinking when directing the film for Paramount and, if a deal was struck, for Warner Bros.
“We said from day one when we acquired Paramount that we were not going to be in the business of making movies directly for streaming,” Ellison said.
Ellison’s team wasn’t always all that into the theatrical experience. Paramount President Jeff Shell pushed for shortening the theatrical window (the period of time a movie is shown only in theaters) from several months to 17 days when he was in charge of NBCUniversal during the pandemic. But Ellison said the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger will honor the 45-day theatrical window for movies to debut on home entertainment platforms.
Despite Mr. Ellison’s promises, there is some skepticism about Mr. Ellison’s ability to find and develop enough films to, in his words, “break the zeitgeist,” especially given the more than $78 billion in debt the combined companies will shoulder.
David A. Gross, who runs the film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, recently told Variety that “if any studio can release 15 or more wide releases a year (a little more than one a month) and be successful, they will be successful.” “In a year, studios can only effectively develop, produce, market and distribute 15 wide-ranging stories around the world. 30 wide-ranging releases is highly unrealistic.”
