Paramount Skydance has warned California officials it is "deadly serious" about relocating its studio operations out of Hollywood ahead of an October 1 deadline, after the state's attorney general and 11 counterparts filed an anti-trust lawsuit to block Paramount's $110 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery. CEO David Ellison has reportedly threatened to move production to Texas, Georgia or Tennessee unless California drops its legal challenge, a move that would end the studio's roughly century-long presence in Hollywood and deal a significant symbolic and economic blow to Governor Gavin Newsom's state.

Sources told Deadline that a deposit has already been placed on moving trucks, and that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Attorney General Rob Bonta had been told an announcement was imminent, though it did not materialise. A study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation estimated the departure could cost between roughly 29,000 and 58,000 full-time jobs, $10.6 billion to $21.2 billion in annual economic output, and $585 million to $1.17 billion in yearly tax revenue. Bonta accused Paramount of using "blackmail" tactics to force the merger through, while California Republican chairwoman Corrin Rankin urged him to negotiate rather than risk the jobs at stake; Bonta maintains the decision rests solely with Paramount and that the state remains open to good-faith talks.