UPDATE: As the March trial looms, the regulatory map has filled in — the UK became the last foreign holdout to clear the deal, leaving 66 governments cleared and only the 12-state courtroom fight standing.
The judge picked a date. It is not the one Paramount wanted.
Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín on Tuesday set the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger trial for March 2, 2027, running 12 court days through March 19 in Oakland.
Paramount asked for November 4. The states wanted April 5, 2027. She landed five weeks from the states’ ask, and four months from Paramount’s.
Reuters called it what it is: a win for Bonta.
What The Judge Ordered
The trial runs half days, 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and goes dark on March 8 and March 15.
Before that: a case check-in on August 19, with both sides filing a joint statement by August 13, and a final pretrial conference on February 24, 2027.
Paramount says it respects the decision, still calls the case baseless, and remains committed to closing as soon as possible. Bonta’s office says it looks forward to blocking the merger at trial.
The Billion-Dollar Wait
Here’s what March costs.
Starting October 1, Paramount owes Warner Bros. shareholders $7 million for every day the deal stays open, payable when it closes.
By the time opening statements begin on March 2, that bill tops $1 billion. Before a single witness testifies.
And the judge gave no timeline for her ruling after trial. The deal itself expires June 4, 2027, with a $7 billion breakup fee if it dies on regulatory grounds. The trial ends March 19, which leaves her roughly ten weeks of runway before the cliff.
One more sting: the DOJ’s clearance window expires February 19.
A March trial means Paramount has to redo regulatory paperwork it already completed, here and in other countries.
Paramount warned the court about exactly this. The court scheduled past it anyway.
The Judge Also Said: Pick A Settlement Referee
Buried in the order is the most interesting part.
The court told both sides to identify at least two candidates for a magistrate judge to preside over a settlement conference.
Read that again. Newsom is pushing Bonta to settle, and now the court has scheduled a room for the conversation.
There’s no sign of active talks yet. But between the governor, the $7 million daily meter, and a judge assigning a settlement referee, the road to a deal is being paved from every direction.
What It Means For DC
The DC regime change now has a court-stamped calendar.
Depositions and discovery run through the fall and winter, which is when Paramount’s integration plans, the who-runs-DC paperwork, get produced and sworn to.
Then the trial in March. Then a ruling. Then, five days after a Paramount win, the deal can finally close.
Which means the dominoes cannot start falling before spring 2027. James Gunn’s stay of execution just got an official length: he runs DC into next year no matter what happens.
But a stay of execution is not a free hand. As I have since reported, the merger agreement already gives Paramount veto power over DC’s long-term future. Gunn keeps the chair into 2027; the big franchise decisions already run through Ellison.
And remember the math on Zack Snyder’s calendar. A spring 2027 verdict landing right as his outside projects clear their runway. That’s now the schedule, in a court order.
March 2. New date to circle. Seven months for somebody to blink first.
