UPDATE 4: Scratch one of those crossover pitches: the Transformers and G.I. Joe movie is dead at Paramount.
UPDATE 3: As for G.I. Joe: Bradley Cooper is set to star as Duke in Danny McBride’s movie.
UPDATE 2: One more answer for the doubters: insiders say De Luca and Abdy are staying at Warner Bros.
UPDATE: Another change on the way: per Semafor, Paramount execs have discussed asking Elon Musk to buy in as an equity investor.
The Paramount takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery is set to close by early October now that California has settled, and some fans are already asking if it even matters.
When YouTuber Nerdrotic posted “David Ellison’s Paramount will be the new owner of DC Comics” with a laughing Batman GIF, one reply summed up the doubt: “And the only rumor I’ve heard so far is that TMNT will become DC. That’s it so far. David Ellison is not the savior you think he is… Ask Star Trek… and Transformers… and GI Joe….”
Nerdrotic’s answer: “Who said he was a savior?”
Fair question. So let’s go over what we’ve been told, franchise by franchise.
Star Trek Goes Back To What Works
Everything Star Trek that’s aired recently was locked in before Skydance took over Paramount in August 2025, all of it made under Alex Kurtzman.
Those contracts are ending. Kurtzman’s deal expires this year, we’re told he won’t be continuing, and Paramount+ has already been canvassing new writers.
The plan, as we reported in July, is going back to what works: a tone in line with The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
We’ve also been told everything rides on how well the new movie does. That’s the Goldstein and Daley film with all-new characters.
We’ve been told Warner Bros. film bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy will be brought in to help steer Star Trek‘s vision into the future with Ellison.
A New TMNT Movie And A Serious G.I. Joe
A new untitled live-action/CG hybrid Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie opens November 17, 2028, from Sonic the Hedgehog producer Neal H. Moritz.
Danny McBride is confirmed to write and direct the new G.I. Joe movie, following Duke and the Joes in Springfield, the town secretly run by Cobra.
“It grounds G.I. Joe. It’s not a comedy,” McBride said.
Transformers: Bay Rumors And Crossover Pitches
Recent rumors said Michael Bay would return to Transformers along with Shia LaBeouf. Nothing is confirmed.
What we have been told: Paramount Warner Bros. needs to release a lot of movies, so the studio is taking pitches.
One of them is Godzilla vs. Transformers, which is heating up, with a Terminator vs. matchup floated, too.
Our Paramount insider says the goal is legacy movies, big event films that bring the fans back.
‘Nostalgia Is The New Woke’
That strategy has a name. As our insider put it back in August: “Nostalgia is the new woke.”
The meaning is simple. Hollywood spent the last ten years or so putting out woke content. Paramount is going the other way, with the nostalgia movies audiences actually want.
The announcements are already piling up: Days of Thunder 2 with Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt back for World War Z 2, and the Star Trek directors’ cuts event that just played theaters.
Ellison’s DC Starts With Batman
For DC, we’ve been told David Ellison is a massive Batman fan and is going all in on Batman. He loves Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson.
Expect the ReevesVerse to expand, including Reeves’ Arkham Asylum series at HBO.
The receipts are already there. We reported the Arkham plan on August 21. Three weeks later, Reeves re-upped his Warner Bros. TV deal, the deal an Arkham series would run through.
Same pattern with the movies. After we revealed the behind-the-scenes problems with Gunn’s Batman, The Batman Part II moved the very next day, further away from Gunn’s Man of Tomorrow, and now opens February 18, 2028.
We’re told the reasoning behind using multiple Batman versions on screen stems from Marvel’s big success with Spider-Man: No Way Home and its three Spider-Man versions and actors.
Gunn Is Out
James Gunn’s contract runs through 2027, and we’re told he won’t be brought back as head of DC Studios.
We’ve been told the Paramount board hates Gunn.
They’re also well aware of the backlash to Gunn’s DCU, including Lanterns and the Supergirl bomb.
Gunn is out.
The Dark Knight Returns, Then Justice League
Zack Snyder will be brought back to do The Dark Knight Returns.
The film is fully storyboarded and ready to go, as we reported in August.
We’re also told Snyder will get to do his Justice League sequels, backed by the Saudis, who are among the Paramount Warner Bros. investors. That goes back to our first report last November.
Paramount Has Noticed DC Comics
What about the comics?
When we were at MegaCon earlier this year, Scott Snyder said he thinks DC Comics is too small to be noticed by Paramount.
That’s not what we’ve been told.
Tom King just exited Wonder Woman at issue #40, and our insiders say it wasn’t his decision. King is out at DC.
We’re also told Paramount and upper WBD execs are well aware of how popular Scott Snyder’s own Absolute Batman is worldwide. It’s part of why the book is getting an animated series, with Scott Snyder running the show.
These are the same sources who reported the Arkham push before Reeves re-upped, said Tom King was out days before DC made it official, and called the directors’ cuts program before AMC listed the screenings.
The fans asked if anything really changes when Paramount takes over.
Per our sources: just about everything.
“Wild 6-12 months, ParaBros will look completely different by summer 2027.”
