Paramount and Warner Bros. finally reach an antitrust settlement, the global production-incentive war intensifies, markets experiment with new ways of connecting films and audiences, and Asian industry platforms continue expanding. PLUS SGIFF unveils its 2026 programme and another Teochew film heads to Singapore cinemas.
1. Paramount-Warner Bros. Clears Its Biggest Hurdle
Paramount Settles Antitrust Case With 12 State Attorneys General, Clearing Path to Warner Bros. Deal Variety reports that the settlement removes the biggest remaining obstacle to Paramount’s US$111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, the largest merger in Hollywood history. The transaction could now close within weeks, subject to court approval.
Settlement Requires 30+ Theatrical Films Annually and US$1.5 Billion in Additional US Production Spend The five-year consent decree turns several of David Ellison’s promises into enforceable commitments: at least 30 theatrical releases annually, rising to 32, an additional US$300 million in domestic production spending each year, preservation of the Paramount and Warner studio lots and penalties for non-compliance.
Writers Guild Drops Its Own Antitrust Challenge After States Settle The WGA maintains that the merger could damage writers and the wider industry but says continuing a multi-million-dollar antitrust case without government backing is no longer practical. It is a revealing distinction between accepting a settlement and endorsing consolidation.
Cinema United Says Paramount Settlement Achieves Many of Exhibition’s Objectives The exhibitor trade body highlights provisions around increased production, theatrical exclusivity, wide distribution and continued catalogue access. After initially opposing consolidation, exhibitors have increasingly prioritised enforceable theatrical guarantees.
Paramount and Warner Employees Brace for Mass Layoffs Despite Production Guarantees Variety reports that employees at both companies expect multiple rounds of redundancies as duplicate corporate operations are combined. The contrast is important: the settlement protects production output more clearly than it protects existing corporate jobs.
What Will a Combined Paramount-Warner Actually Mean for Independent Film?Screen asks whether a company compelled to release more than 30 films annually could create new opportunities for independent producers, acquisitions and co-financing—or simply increase production within an even more concentrated studio system.
Federal Judge Raises Questions Over Paramount Settlement Before Giving Final Approval Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín questioned elements of the consent decree at a 24 September hearing and did not immediately approve it. The merger is therefore politically cleared but still technically awaiting its final legal hurdle.
2. Countries Fight Harder for Production
US Lawmakers Introduce First Federal Film and Television Production Incentive Bipartisan legislation proposes a transferable 20% federal tax credit on qualifying labour, with 5% uplifts for independent productions, rural shoots and work in Los Angeles County. Crucially, the federal incentive could stack with existing state rebates.
France Responds by Expanding Its International Production Rebate France’s TRIP scheme will now cover expenses including non-EU actor salaries and accommodation while retaining its 30% rebate, rising to 40% for qualifying VFX-heavy productions. The timing—one day after the US bill—makes the global competition for mobile production especially visible.
Spain Film and TV Production Spend Reaches Record €5.68 Billion Production spending has risen 45% since 2022 following sustained public and private investment, while international projects including Tangled, Tomb Raider and Murderbot have shot in the country.
Screen Yorkshire Wants to Move Beyond Being a Production-Service Economy Its new three-year plan explicitly argues that attracting outside productions is insufficient. The regional agency wants more locally originated projects, IP ownership, companies and long-term value to remain in Yorkshire—an interesting alternative to incentive policy built only around incoming shoots.
Film London Production Finance Market Selects More Than 60 Projects Producers from the UK, Ireland and continental Europe will pitch directly to financiers and screen agencies at the October market. The programme also introduces a new strand specifically for emerging producers.
3. Distribution Keeps Changing Shape
Black Bear Buys Worldwide Rights to Laika’s Live-Action Film Atmosphere Black Bear will co-finance the film, distribute it theatrically in the US and its own territories and handle international sales. The arrangement demonstrates vertically integrated independents increasingly combining financing, sales and direct distribution.
Sony Acquires Michelle Yeoh Thriller The Surgeon Following TIFF Premiere Sony Pictures picked up North America, China, Hong Kong, Italy and Latin America following a competitive post-Toronto sale. Most other territories had already been pre-sold from Cannes 2025, demonstrating a film’s sales lifecycle stretching across multiple markets and festival editions.
Venice Winner NAZA Will Move From 50+ Theatrical Territories to Free Online Streaming Following its international cinema run, the documentary will be made freely available through producer The Guardian. The model treats theatrical distribution as the first stage of circulation rather than the endpoint, followed by unrestricted digital access.
AFM Will Put Ordinary Moviegoers Into Market Screenings The American Film Market is partnering with AMC A-List and B-List Movie Club to allow selected sales companies to screen films simultaneously for buyers and frequent cinemagoers. More than 5,000 Los Angeles movie-club members may participate, giving sellers live audience feedback alongside conventional buyer screenings.
France Creates a Single Portal Connecting Seven National Cinema Archives CNC’s new Garance platform brings films, photographs, magazines, costumes, cameras, sets and archival documents from seven institutions into one searchable resource. The project treats access to film heritage itself as cultural infrastructure.
4. Festivals After Toronto: What Comes Next?
Five Talking Points From TIFF 2026 Screen’s post-Toronto analysis looks at the awards race, acquisitions and the impact of TIFF’s first formal market. Particularly useful for assessing whether the festival’s new industrial infrastructure actually altered buyer behaviour in its inaugural year.
San Sebastián Industry Awards Back Projects Across Europe and Latin America Projects emerging through WIP Latam, WIP Europa and the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum received finishing, distribution and development support, maintaining San Sebastián’s importance well before finished films enter its competition.
Ten Talking Points From San Sebastián 2026 Screen assesses the festival’s industry mood, private investment initiatives and the extraordinary momentum surrounding La Bola Negra after Toronto and Cannes. San Sebastián increasingly functions as both a Spanish theatrical launchpad and an international financing platform.
Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care Wins San Sebastián’s Golden Shell Leigh’s feature took best film, screenplay and leading performance after travelling through Telluride and Toronto, providing another example of films strategically moving through several autumn festivals rather than relying on one premiere.
Sundance, IDFA, Venice and London Programmers Head to Dutch Showcase NL Wave Thirty-five Dutch features will be presented as early-stage pitches and works in progress directly to programmers, distributors and sales companies. It is another example of national industries building curated export platforms between filmmakers and the international festival circuit.
Red Sea International Film Festival Postpones Next Edition Until 2027 Organisers say the Jeddah festival will return with a “renewed vision,” while year-round programming is set to begin in November. The pause comes as the Gulf festival ecosystem continues rapidly changing, including Dubai’s previously announced return.
5. Asia: Markets Build Infrastructure, Not Just Festivals
Bangkok’s Talad Nang Market Experiments With Buyer-First Meetings Instead of sales companies renting booths and waiting for buyers, nearly 30 international buyers—including several from Singapore—were given dedicated stations for Thai companies to visit. Buyers reported productive back-to-back meetings, making the model worth watching for smaller regional markets.
Thailand’s Sahamongkolfilm Launches Pha Jaan: Deathbound to International Buyers The veteran Thai studio used Talad Nang to launch the supernatural romance internationally ahead of its November domestic release. Sahamongkol’s recent Undertaker films have grossed a combined US$32.6 million locally, giving its new slate significant commercial credibility.
Taiwan Creative Content Fest Adds Buyer-Focused Spotlight Screenings TCCF will screen finished Taiwanese projects immediately before market meetings, while its market grows to 107 exhibitors from seven countries. Particularly notable is the 13% rise in publishing, comics and character-IP exhibitors as adaptation rights become increasingly central to screen-business strategy.
Singapore-Taiwan Series See You At 11pm Chosen for TCCF Spotlight The Mediacorp and Three-Giant Production fantasy romance will be screened directly for international buyers, with Singapore performers Mark Lee, Gavin Teo and Hong Ling among its cast. It provides another concrete example of Singapore content entering regional co-production and market infrastructure.
South Korean Remake of The Intern Knocks The Odyssey From No. 1 The local remake drew 275,183 admissions over the weekend, ending The Odyssey’s six-week run atop Korea’s admissions chart. The result also offers another useful data point for the continuing industrial viability of cross-border remake rights.
Na Hong-jin’s Hope Opens at No. 8 in North America The Korean genre film earned around US$3.31 million in its opening North American weekend according to KoBiz, providing a relatively substantial mainstream theatrical launch for a Korean-language feature rather than a limited festival-led release.
Contents Panda Takes Teen Cop to Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market The Korean sales company has acquired worldwide rights and will launch the film alongside Shaving, Final Interview and several genre projects at ACFM, demonstrating how Busan remains a key commercial launch point for upcoming Korean titles.
Busan Expands Its Conversation Around AI, Animation and Microdrama KoBiz previews BIFF’s growing focus on technologies and formats reshaping Asian cinema, including artificial intelligence, animation and short-form storytelling. It further broadens Busan’s role beyond discovering finished Asian features into debating how they may be produced in future.
Rolf de Heer Named Tokyo International Film Festival Jury President The Australian filmmaker will lead Tokyo’s International Competition jury, while the festival also presents an Australia Spotlight in partnership with the Australian Embassy in Japan.
Tokyo Adds Mizoguchi Retrospective and Animation Symposium Tokyo announced a Kenji Mizoguchi programme alongside an animation symposium at TIFFCOM and the tenth anniversary of its Teens Cinema Workshop, combining industry activity with film heritage and audience-development initiatives.
Asian Academy Creative Awards Adds Microdrama and Feature-Film Directing Categories The Singapore-based awards body is expanding beyond its traditional television and streaming remit as short-form vertical storytelling and theatrical film become increasingly important to Asia-Pacific screen industries.
6. In Singapore
SGIFF 2026 to Open With Hur Jin-ho’s The Assassin(s); Aamir Khan and Hirokazu Koreeda Receive Honours The 37th Singapore International Film Festival runs 21 October–1 November, more than a month earlier than its traditional slot. Aamir Khan will receive the Screen Icon Award alongside a 25th-anniversary Lagaan screening, while Koreeda receives the Cinema Honorary Award and presents Look Back.
The programme also brings more than 25 internationally recognised Singapore productions and co-productions home, including Ah Girl, 9 Temples to Heaven, Four Seasons in Java and The Burning Giants. All four compete in SGIFF’s Asian Feature Film Competition, illustrating the scale at which Singapore producers and craftspeople are now embedded in regional co-production.
Lan Hongchun’s Teochew-Language Back To Love Gets 1 October Singapore Release Clover Films will release the earlier feature by Dear You director Lan Hongchun, with around two-thirds of its dialogue in Teochew. It is one of the first obvious commercial consequences of Singapore’s newly liberalised rules around Chinese-dialect film screenings.
Real-Life Sandbox Stunt School Closes Weeks Before The Sandbox Opens in Cinemas The stunt school on which James Thoo’s SGIFF-premiering mockumentary is based handed back its physical space on 24 September because of rental costs. The film opens theatrically on 8 October, turning its fictional story about keeping a struggling Singapore arts business alive into a particularly direct reflection of the real production ecosystem.
HYBE Expands Cine Fest to More Than 1,100 Cinemas, Including Shaw Theatres Singapore The October event includes three concert films, BTS live broadcasts and a sing-along programme across more than 50 countries. For Singapore exhibition, it is another example of cinemas increasingly relying on event content that sits outside conventional feature-film distribution.
Two CNA Documentaries Receive International Emmy Nominations The nominations provide another international industry marker for Singapore factual production, alongside the country’s increasing activity in feature co-production, animation and regional television partnerships.