Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery announce deal
In this photo illustration, the logo of Warner Bros. Discovery is displayed on a computer screen in Ankara, Turkiye, on August 12, 2025. (Photo by Omer Taha Cetin/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Warner Bros Discovery has agreed to a deal with Paramount Skydance, the two companies confirmed Friday in a news release.
According to the release, under the terms of the agreement, Paramount plans to pay “$31.00 per share in cash for all outstanding shares of WBD.”
“The merger unlocks innovative and compelling storytelling opportunities across the combined company’s best-in-class film and television studios, streaming and linear platforms,” the release stated.
According to the release, the board of directors of both companies approved the deal unanimously.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, “subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances and approval by WBD shareholders, with a vote expected in the early spring of 2026.”
A visitor dressed in costume as Dorian Arno, a character from ‘Assassin’s Creed Unity,’ poses in front of a Ubisoft logo during the Paris Games week on Oct. 29, 2015, in Paris, France. (Chesnot/Getty Images)
Cameras have started rolling on the Assassin’s Creed live-action TV series.
Netflix has announced that the upcoming series adaptation of the popular video game franchises has started filming in Rome, Italy.
The show’s original story will be set in Rome in 64 AD, with production taking place at Cinecittà Studios.
The TV show will be a high-octane thriller about “the secret war between two shadowy factions — one set on determining mankind’s future through control and manipulation, while the other fights to preserve free will,” according to its official logline. “The series follows its characters across pivotal historical events as they battle to shape humanity’s destiny.”
The Assassin’s Creed video game franchise arrived in 2007 from the video game publisher Ubisoft. This upcoming show is nearly five years in the making, becoming the first series developed under Netflix’s agreement with Ubisoft.
Emmy nominees Roberto Patino and David Wiener created the series, and will serve as showrunners and executive producers.
The show’s previously announced cast includes Lola Petticrew, Toby Wallace, Zachary Hart, Laura Marcus, Tanzyn Crawford, Nabhann Rizwan, Claes Bang, Noomi Rapace, Ramzy Bedia, Sean Harris and Corrado Invernizzi.
Four new recurring cast members have joined the show’s ensemble: Sandra Guldberg-Kampp, Youssef Kerkour, Mirren Mack and Louis McCartney.
Assassin’s Creed is one of the bestselling series in video game history with over 230 million units sold, according to Netflix.
Poster for ‘Is God Is’ film ( Amazon MGM Studios / Orion Pictures)
Mallori Johnson and Kara Young star as twin sisters Anaia and Racine in the film adaptation of Aleshea Harris’ play Is God Is. Although both actors are singletons, they put in the work to form a convincing twin dynamic.
“Aleshea brought us in two weeks before we shot,” Mallori tells ABC Audio, describing how they worked with choreographer Raja Feather Kelly on different exercises, like trying to finish each other’s sentences, to ensure they were moving in sync.
She adds that the process was intentional, but their connection also developed naturally.
“We just genuinely got close. We built a real kinship outside of set. We spent a lot of time together. We were living in the same hotel, and we would meet each other all the time,” Mallori says. “And I think we have a very similar work ethic in that we just are very passionate about what we’re doing. … We were bonding off that.”
Mallori and Kara also dedicated time to research so they’d portray their characters with care. In the film, Anaia and Racine embark on a revenge mission against their father, who attempted to murder them and their mother in an attack that left them with severe burn scars.
Kara says they studied burn victims and followed people on social media who were “scarred from being burned and or being in a fire.”
“I wanted to approach it with true respect and regard for people with disabilities, especially visible disabilities, and understanding that to the best of my ability,” Mallori says.
Kara adds they also leaned on Aleshea throughout the process, noting, “It is her baby, and the story is just incredibly profound.”
It Ends With Us co-stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have settled their nearly two-year legal battle, according to a statement from their legal teams.
“We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online,” read a portion of the joint statement released on Monday.
The dispute was set to see a jury later this month.
The joint statement put out by the parties on Monday began, “The end product – the movie ‘It Ends With Us’ – is a source of pride to all of us who worked to bring it to life. Raising awareness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of domestic violence survivors – and all survivors – is a goal that we stand behind.”
The statement continued, “We acknowledge the process presented challenges and recognize concerns raised by Ms. Lively deserved to be heard.”
The settlement brings an end to the high-profile legal saga which kicked off in December 2024 when Lively filed a filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in late December, alleging “severe emotional distress” after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni followed up the action by filing a lawsuit against the New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy on Dec. 31 after it published the article about Lively’s California complaint.
Also on Dec. 31, Lively formalized her complaint into a lawsuit against Baldoni in New York.
Baldoni would respond by filing a civil lawsuit against Lively, husband Ryan Reynolds and others, for, among other things, extortion and defamation.
The suits were consolidated into one suit in January 2025.
In June of last year, Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Blake Lively, her husband, the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane, as well as Baldoni’s defamation suit against The New York Times, was dismissed by Judge Lewis J. Liman.
The New York Times countersued Wayfarer Studios, Baldoni’s production company, in September 2025, asking for reasonable costs and attorney fees paid back to the New York Times. The matter is ongoing according to the court docket.
On April 2 of this year, a federal judge in New York gutted much of Lively’s case against Baldoni, including claims she was subjected to sexual harassment on set.
The judge determined Lively would be allowed to pursue certain claims of retaliation against Baldoni’s public relations team over alleged harm to her reputation, according to the ruling by Judge Liman.
