If Paramount–Warner Bros. leaves L.A., it’ll be game over for Hollywood. But David Ellison’s newly merged studios will be fine. Better than fine. Nobody in Burbank actually likes Burbank anyway.
The infrastructure moves. You can throw up a soundstage in Atlanta or New Jersey, or in a decommissioned ice cream factory outside Austin. The lots get sold, and Mayor Karen Bass rebuilds them for the homeless at $2 million per unit. The executive class transfers, same as any corporate move, and they will discover the scientific phenomenon called “weather.” The deals? Vaporware. Contracts and e-signatures floating in a cloud, which is to say a server farm in Virginia that has never heard of Erewhon.
Moving out of L.A. is more possible than you think, because the real asset isn’t the soundstages and office buildings.
It’s the IP.
Paramount’s and Warners’ combined property holdings are worth $1.67 billion. Meanwhile, their top 10 franchises have grossed $150 billion. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, DC, Game of Thrones, Star Trek. That isn’t a library, that’s a row of perpetual ATM machines. The valuation of Batman alone could buy Wayne Enterprises several times over.
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