Paramount Gets Hostile

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Happy Tuesday, Future Party. We’ve got two Hollywood stories from opposite sides of the tracks today — a twist in the war for Warner Bros. Discovery and a cool new indie video store. The money involved with both is light-years apart, but each could help shape the future of entertainment… or at least give you more options for cool things to watch.

Paramount is launching a hostile $108.4 billion takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery after the entertainment conglomerate chose Netflix as its buyer.

The Big Picture: David Ellison (with the backing of dad Larry’s enormous vault of Oracle cash) isn’t taking “no” for an answer, alleging that WBD’s bakeoff for ownership was unfair. By taking his tender offer directly to the board and shareholders, Paramount and Netflix will now battle publicly to win the hearts and minds of the people who matter most to the deal — those who own the most stock in WBD.

Behind The Scenes: Unlike Netflix, Paramount is making a play for the entirety of WBD.

Here are the highlights:

Closing Thoughts: Paramount has given WBD shareholders until January 8th to decide… at which point, they’ll likely file a lawsuit, and this bidding war will get even messier. WBD’s board said it will “carefully review and consider” the offer and provide guidance to shareholders within 10 days.

Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters aren’t going to go quietly, though. Both have kicked off a media blitz, underscoring the soundness of their deal and their desire to be meaningful theatrical players — the biggest points of concern in Hollywood.

But here’s the hundred-billion-dollar question: who does President Trump favor? Although son-in-law Jared Kushner and mega-donor Larry Ellison are involved in the Paramount deal, Trump said of both sides: “None of them are particularly great friends of mine. I want to do what’s right.”

Next Round: Considering the current economic environment, “right” may be whichever company has the most compelling pitch for creating American jobs.

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Film-focused social platform Letterboxd is starting a movie-rental business called “Video Store” that aims to be a more curated, indie-focused offering in the streaming landscape.

Why It Hits: Letterboxd CEO and co-founder Matthew Buchanan said that the new offering is  “the next evolution of the platform’s core mission of film discovery.” With Letterboxd exploding in popularity over the past few years (with over 24 million users as of 2024), the platform could provide a novel way for filmmakers to go viral.

Between The Shelves: For those nostalgic for Blockbuster (read: us here at TheFutureParty), then Letterboxd may scratch that itch.

Final Picks: Letterboxd is curating its rotating selection of films via “shelves” organized by the company’s team — all informed by member data, trending genres, and other in-app signals. The first two shelves are “Unreleased Gems” and “Lost & Found,” highlighting nine movies total — festival darlings that never got a proper release or under-seen early films from arthouse legends.

Future Rental: With so much data available from its engaged user base of cinephiles and filmmakers, Letterboxd has the ability to pivot quickly to customer demand — potentially maximizing impact on a limited number of available titles. It’s an anti-scale play.

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Discover Your Perks

76% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Have you ever rented clothing instead of buying it?

“Rent a house — but never underwear. You never know where it has been, what it has done, or what was done in it.”

“I am extremely skeptical of the poll numbers so far. I would wager that the vast majority of readers rented a tux or dress for their high school proms (and other events like weddings or fundraisers), even if they haven’t used one of the newer clothing rental platforms.”

“I stopped shopping for clothes 5 years ago when I signed up for Rent the Runway. Best decision ever! I can rent an entire wardrobe for travel, always have something to wear for events, and they have an amazing selection for work or going out on the weekends.”

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🏆 The 2026 Golden Globe nominations are here, with One Battle After Another and The White Lotus leading the pack.

🏎️ McLaren’s Lando Norris won his first-ever F1 World Championship.

🎧 Spotify Wrapped hit a record 250 million engagements in just 65 hours.

🤖 President Trump plans to sign an executive order this week that will limit states’ ability to regulate AI.

💰 IBM is acquiring data-infrastructure company Confluent for $11 billion — a big bet on AI.

⌚ Meta is buying AI-wearable startup Limitless, which will be absorbed into Reality Labs.

👕 Twitch streamer Kai Cenat is looking to launch a fashion label.

🚗 Uber is turning rider data into insights that can be sold to marketers.

👀 MCQ Markets is opening up a new asset for fractional investing — classic cars.