Is a Warners-Paramount merger coming?

Veteran media mogul John Malone may be 84 years old, but he’s still moving pieces on Hollywood’s chessboard. In a rare New York Times interview, he casually dropped that he and David Ellison sat down to talk about “further consolidation in the media industry.” As Matt Belloni notes, that sure sounds like a Warner–Paramount merger tease. And Malone isn’t simply speculating from the sidelines. He’s still the David Zaslav-whisperer, talking to the Warner Bros. CEO “every day” and weighing in on everything from NBA rights to paychecks.

Meanwhile in Vegas, the Sphere is testing both how much audiences will shell out for spectacle and how far Hollywood will let AI go. Its $100 million reimagining of The Wizard of Oz uses generative tools to upscale and widen the visuals — and make some… choices, like digitally inserting an easter egg of Warner’s David Zaslav and MSG’s James Dolan into the classic. The Directors Guild isn’t having it: “There is really no place for AI in this situation, especially to put two executives into a movie,” Belloni was told. Partners in Banter Masters and Belloni dive into the Vegas curiosity.