Paramount Warner Deal & Venice: International Insider

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Weeks Of Uncertainty For WarnerMount

“A giant conglomerate beholden to Trump”: We’ve been keeping you up to date with every twist and turn of the regulatory quagmire that is the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) $110B merger. In the UK, where the future of the deal could lie, WarnerMount now faces weeks of uncertainty. That is because Parliament has closed its doors for the summer, with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy making no decision on whether to intervene on media plurality grounds (she said she was “minded to intervene” several weeks back). The limbo will last until at least September 1, at which point there will be a new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, and therefore probably a new Culture Sec. Reminder: the David Ellison-run company has a “ticking fee” commitment to WBD shareholders of 25 cents a ​share — roughly $650M — for every quarter its takeover does not finalize beyond Q3, so Nandy’s delay could be rather costly. Behind the scenes, we revealed Wednesday that big stars like Alan Cumming have been organizing to block the merger via a coalition urging people to contact Nandy’s department, with Cumming saying WarnerMount will create “a giant conglomerate beholden to Donald Trump, autocrats and oligarchs.” Jake’s story notes that the deal could technically close without UK clearance, but all Ellison’s signals so far are that he will play by the book. With a dozen states suing against the merger in the U.S., WarnerMount continues to be the messiest piece of M&A of the year. Ted Johnson’s run down of goings on across the Atlantic is well worth a read.

Danny Boyle To Open Venice

Spilling the ‘Ink’: It’s Venice next on the ever-marching movie festival circuit and Thursday brought news of a glitzy one to kick things off. The opening movie at this year’s fest will be Danny Boyle’s Rupert Murdoch movie Ink. Starring Jack O’Connell, Guy Pearce and Claire Foy and based on the James Graham play, Ink is about the early days of The Sun newspaper when Murdoch, along with no-nonsense editor Larry Lamb, turned it into Britain’s best-selling tabloid. Venice head Alberto Barbera called the Studiocanal, Media Res and House Productions movie “highly anticipated,” and he will have been delighted to secure such a coup. Graham’s play attracted rave reviews when it landed in the West End and it subsequently moved to Broadway. Cannes was dubbed a little quiet by all and sundry this year, with smaller arthouse fare dominating, but Venice, which last year opened with Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, hasn’t been afraid to reach for the bigger, starrier pics in recent years and the Ink booking shows it. Meanwhile, Ellen Burstyn will receive the Golden Lion, while Akinola Davies Jr. and Ted Hope are two of a number of big-name Venice jury members. We watch with interest as to what Barbera pulls out of the hat next.

The Insider Interview: David W. Zucker

The Good Wife EP David W. Zucker has been ruminating on how the industry is changing at a rate of knots.

Speaking to us from the Italian Global Series Festival, Zucker bemoaned the death of the pilot system, which he feels has led to a commissioning free-for-all. “We used to be a seasonal business and, as much as a lot of us back in the pilot season era used to gripe against the mad reality of that chaos and hysteria, you knew by May a decision was going to be made,” he said.

Elsewhere, the Chief Creative Officer of Scott Free Productions updated on FX’s Alien: Earth Season 2 and The Terror: Devil in Silver. >>>Read The Interview

The BBC’s Big Ask Of The Streamers

License to expand the fee: BBC annual report week always provides a marker of where the 100-year-old broadcaster is at and in 2026 it’s all about funding, or lack thereof. With the BBC desperate to revamp its license fee funding model, all the chatter at the press briefing during what was new DG Matt Brittin’s first annual report was around an intriguing yet seemingly flawed plan to force streaming services subscribers to pay the license fee. The report showed that 539,000 fewer households paid their £180 ($240) last year and this is leaving the BBC in a perilous position, according to Brittin and BBC top brass. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has backed the plan, but it leaves more questions than answers and is hard to imagine it can help plug the BBC’s shortfalls for many years (FWIW the streamers and studios have predictably opposed the plan). The BBC is clear something needs to change: Brittin has blasted the current licence fee as “yesterday’s model.” With the corporation making thousands redundant amid a £500M savings plan, it needs to find a way to keep up with rapid inflation and has pinpointed rapidly improved license fee collection as the way to solve this. Elsewhere, disgraced radio presenter Scott Mills returned to the headlines as he was revealed by the annual report to have been the BBC’s highest-paid presenter of the past year, before his show was abruptly terminated relating to a police investigation over alleged historical sexual offences, which prosecutors ultimately dropped. Mills pocketed as much as £750,000 in the 12 months to the end of March 2026. All the report coverage is here.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: Idris Elba‘s 22Summers is working on a slate of action films originating from across West Africa.

🌶️ Another One: ITV, Jeff Pope and Simon Cowell’s partner Lauren Cowell are making a drama series about social media’s “devastating” impact on children.

📖 Investigation: An executive producer on BBC show Ambulance is suing producer Banijay for damaging his mental health.

🤝 Done deal: Irish producer Playhouse Studios has bought the assets of Halo Post and will launch its own post house as a result.

🇺🇸 American home: Jean-Xavier De Lestrade’s French thriller Sambre is heading to Babylon Berlin streamer MHz Choice.

🏆 World Cup: Tom Cruise and IShowSpeed will appear at the World Cup closing ceremony, as the biggest tournament in soccer finally concludes.

📺 ‘Accounts’ closed: Colin From Accounts, the Australian mega-hit that has made people smile around the world, will end after three seasons.

⛺ Fest latest: The Toronto International Film Festival’s new marketplace has set VR and mixed reality projects to participate in its inaugural Innovation Hub.

👀 First look: Check out the teaser for Netflix’s Jose Mourinho documentary.

🍿 Box office: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is set to begin its epic journey with $200M worldwide.

International Insider was written by Max Goldbart and edited by Jesse Whittock. Send any tips, comments or ideas for international coverage to jwhittock@deadline.com and mgoldbart@deadline.com