Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery become one company, Skydance, on Tuesday, Oct. 6. The new company will own HBO Max, Paramount+ and John Lasseter’s animation studio. What it means for Disney fans.
Hollywood is about to get a new giant, and Disney is about to find out how big it is.
Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are set to close their merger on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, per the companies’ announcement. The combined company will be called Skydance, per CNN and Variety.
That one company will own HBO, HBO Max, Paramount+, CBS, CNN, Nickelodeon, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures. That means DC, Harry Potter, Star Trek and SpongeBob all live under the same roof.
Is the Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max bundle going away?
Nothing has been announced.
The bundle that packages Disney+, Hulu and HBO Max together is still on sale, and Skydance hasn’t said it’s ending.
In fact, HBO’s top executive seems to like it. Asked whether HBO Max and Paramount+ might be bundled, Casey Bloys said, “I would point to the HBO Max-Disney bundle, which has been very successful,” per Deadline.
Skydance plans to keep HBO Max and Paramount+ as separate brands, at least for now, and may bundle them together, per Deadline.
Where does John Lasseter fit in?
At Skydance.
John Lasseter helped build Pixar and once ran both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. He left Disney at the end of 2018, after allegations of inappropriate workplace behavior, which he addressed in a 2017 memo apologizing for “missteps.”
He joined Skydance Animation as head of animation in January 2019, per Wikipedia, and he’s still there. Skydance Animation became part of Paramount when David Ellison’s Skydance merged with Paramount in 2025, so it’s now part of the new Skydance too.
And it’s about to compete with Disney more directly. Skydance Animation’s deal with Netflix is ending, and its future movies will go to theaters through Paramount, per Cartoon Brew. Lasseter is set to co-direct one of them, Cosmic Motors, with Louie del Carmen.
Before that, Ray Gunn, from former Pixar director Brad Bird of The Incredibles, arrives on Netflix on Dec. 18. That’s the same day Disney’s Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters.
Why are Disney and Netflix working together again?
Money and reach.
On Oct. 2, Disney signed a deal to license some of its shows and movies to Netflix, per Variety. Percy Jackson and the Olympians and all five Ice Age movies arrived on Netflix on Sunday, Oct. 4, with Pixar’s Soul and Elio coming in early 2027. The titles stay on Disney+ too.
That deal landed just days before Skydance becomes official. Disney hasn’t tied the two together, but the timing tells you how much the streaming world is shifting.
What did Disney’s Dana Walden say about all this?
On Oct. 1, Disney’s Dana Walden told Bloomberg’s Screentime conference that the changes in Hollywood will keep coming, per TheWrap. She said she expects more layoffs across the industry, including at the Paramount-Warner Bros. company.
Will your Disney+ bill change because of Skydance?
Not because of the merger.
Disney+ prices are going up anyway. Disney announced the increase on Sept. 23, with Disney+ with ads going from $11.99 to $12.49 a month, per Stocktwits.
If you subscribe to both Disney+ and HBO Max, watch for bundle news over the next few months. Nothing’s changed yet, but with two giants now facing off, deals are the main way they’ll fight for your subscription.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery via PR Newswire (2026), the Oct. 6 closing date and the combined brands
CNN and Variety (Oct. 2, 2026), the Skydance name
Deadline (Oct. 3, 2026), separate HBO Max and Paramount+ brands and Casey Bloys’ bundle comment, read via Yahoo
Cord Cutters News (April 2026), the Hulu app phase-out
Cartoon Brew (Sept. 2026), the end of the Skydance Animation-Netflix deal, Ray Gunn and Cosmic Motors
Wikipedia, Skydance Animation and John Lasseter’s role
TheWrap (Oct. 1, 2026), Dana Walden’s comments
Stocktwits (Sept. 29, 2026), Disney+ prices
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