UPDATE 8/27: The court has set the calendar, which puts a length on the freeze. Trial runs March 2-19, 2027, and Paramount agreed not to close until the judge rules or June 2027, whichever comes first.
Two states just told the Supreme Court that Warner Bros. is frozen.
The motion Iowa and Montana filed to take the Paramount-Warner Bros. case away from Bonta is mostly a fight over which court gets to hear it.
But the section on what the delay is costing reads like everything we have been telling you for the last three weeks on this site.
“Warner Bros. is frozen, unable to make strategic decisions without knowing whether it will be independent or part of a merged entity,” the complaint says. “It must, under the deal, receive approval from Paramount for certain decisions, but still must compete with Paramount at arm’s length while the litigation plays out.”
Then it asks the questions: “Can it greenlight new movies or shows? Upgrade its streaming technology? Incorporate a new approach to artificial intelligence? Negotiate new contracts with employees or counterparties? Who knows?”
And the answer: “The end result is movies that are not made, risks that are not taken, and every decision hedged.”
The filing calls that setup — one company needing its buyer’s sign-off while the sale is still in court — an arrangement “that makes sense for coordinating a short transition but that becomes paralyzing over a long one.”
“Frozen” is the word two state attorneys general chose. It is also the word our insiders used just last night.
The Receipts
On August 6, we reported that the merger agreement already gives David Ellison veto power over Warner Bros.’ long-term franchise decisions, before he owns the company.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, deals involving “key property” IP, which THR reads as Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and DC, can only run two years past a closing date that does not exist yet.
Anything longer gives Paramount the first crack, and content deals above thresholds from $30 million to $400 million need Paramount’s approval. Those terms have been in force since Paramount and WBD signed the merger agreement in February.
On August 7, we applied it to DC: the DCU Batman search froze because casting a Batman means multi-picture options Warner Bros. can no longer sign alone, Man of Tomorrow keeps adding cameos because a cameo is the one deal Paramount never sees, and there is no Justice League until Ellison says so.
On July 16, our insiders called it “chaos” at Warner Bros., with projects on hold.
And this week, per our insiders, Paramount’s move to Tennessee has deals and productions “frozen right now.”
Gunn Says Nothing Is On Hold. The Filing Says Frozen. Both Are True.
On August 24, James Gunn said The Brave and the Bold is “in no way on hold” and, asked whether the DCU’s development slate is stuck because of the merger, answered, “No. Nothing is on hold.”
That came after the Muschietti “on hold” report was walked back, with the man who posted it saying the director was “out of the loop” and only suspected that nothing happens until the merger is settled.
Read the filing again with Gunn’s answer next to it.
It does not say Paramount is blocking anything. A WBD source told THR that Paramount has not withheld consent on a single thing submitted.
What the filing says is that the big decisions are not being made at all, because nobody knows who will be in charge next year.
“Problems do not age well,” the complaint says, “but they also cannot be solved if no one knows who is (or will be) in charge.”
That is how “nothing is on hold” and “frozen” fit.
As we laid out on August 25, the DC slate has been shaped so it never reaches Ellison’s desk: cameo contracts, single-season orders, deals that fit inside two years and stay under the $30 million line.
The projects that would require bigger, longer-term commitments are the ones missing: Batman, with its director deal, multi-picture star contracts and sequel options, and eventually Justice League.
Nothing is on hold because nothing big is being decided, and everything Gunn is doing with DC is short-term.
Iowa and Montana’s phrase for that is “every decision hedged.”
The two states’ fix is for the Supreme Court to take the case and decide the merger itself rather than waiting for the March 2-19, 2027 trial.
Until that happens, the merger agreement still makes Warner Bros. run its biggest decisions past a company that doesn’t own it yet. The deals that need a yes don’t get made, and Gunn’s Batman waits.
