Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery voted to sell the company to David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance for $31 a share in cash at a special virtual meeting Wednesday morning. The approval was a key hurdle in advancing the deal. - Deadline
Days after layoffs at Artnet and Artsy shook the art world, investor and owner Andrew E. Wolff has offered his clearest explanation yet for the cuts, framing them as part of a broader consolidation strategy already underway at the two companies. - ARTnews
This past January, Khaby Lame, a Senegalese-Italian who has 160 million followers for his Chaplin-esque silent TikTok shorts, signed a $975 billion deal with Hong Kong-based firm Rich Sparkle Holdings for use of his likeness in AI-generated videos. Three months later, Lame largely disavows Rich Sparkle, whose share price is plummeting. - TheWrap (MSN)
The Brazilian film industry has plenty of infrastructure for film production, but there was almost none for the early stages of development. So Olga Rabinovich founded, and singlehandedly funds, Projeto Paradiso to provide that support. During the Bolsonaro years, however, Rabinovich had to expand Projeto Paradiso’s remit. - Variety
The FCC has launched a new inquiry into the TV ratings system, including whether issues of gender identity are being included in children’s programming without flagging that content to parents. - Deadline
“It may not be realistic to expect lockstep agreement with Guillermo del Toro’s perspective that he would ‘rather die’ than use AI on his films. … But it does prompt questions about determining the right amount of support (or at least agnosticism) that anti-AI advocates can tolerate in their creative heroes.” - The Guardian
“Barack and Michelle Obama‘s production company Higher Ground is transitioning to an independent operation following eight years at Netflix.” - The Hollywood Reporter
“Nearly a year and a half after its prior effort to acquire the right-wing conspiracy-centric brand Infowars was nixed by a bankruptcy judge, The Onion is moving forward with a new effort to take over the company and secure justice for the families of Sandy Hook victims.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Nexstar and Tegna, two of the largest television groups in the United States, agreed to merge last year in a $6.2 billion deal that put scores of stations under the umbrella of Nexstar, the biggest local broadcaster in the industry. - The New York Times
David Ellison of Paramount gave his pitch last week to theatre owners, saying that he would commit Paramount to a 45-day theatrical window. “‘Long live the movies,’ Ellison said.” - Boston Globe (AP)
“Screenmaxxing is big business for an imperiled theatrical exhibition industry. … PLF screens seem to be an effective way to lure them out of the house, and charge a little (or a lot) extra for the assurance that they’re seeing a version of the movie that goes above and beyond.” - The Guardian (UK)
Bizarrely, Netflix would up in a much stronger place: “The company did not say how it plans to spend the $2.8-billion US termination fee it received after losing the Warner Bros. movie studio, including HBO, and lifted its earnings per share.” - CBC
“Audiences clearly crave these stories – but why? Isn’t a movie more impressive if it’s so well rehearsed that it seems real? Isn’t it better that an actor’s pained scream sounds authentic because they’re an elite professional, not because they stubbed their toe?” - The Guardian (UK)
