Proposed acquisition of Warner Bros.

One of the most notable examples is a series of live-action DreamWorks films from the 2000s that were co-released with Warner. Since Paramount acquired the live-action DreamWorks library in 2006, they already own half the rights to these films. A merger would give them full control. The films in question are: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), The Time Machine (2002), and The Island (2005). Also, there is Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Sweeney Todd (2007), which were co-released by DreamWorks and Warner when DreamWorks was operating as part of Paramount, so Paramount kept half of the rights to those films when DreamWorks left them to become independent again.

Interestingly, South Park was originally co-owned by Paramount and Warner. When the show first began in 1997, Comedy Central was a 50/50 joint venture between Paramount (then Viacom) and Warner. This is exactly why the 1999 South Park movie was a co-distribution effort. Paramount Pictures handled the domestic distribution, while Warner Bros. Pictures took on the international distribution. In non-US countries, Warner also distributed the TV show on home video until 2003. Viacom/Paramount eventually bought out Warner's share in Comedy Central during 2003, giving them full control over South Park. There was later a legal battle between Warner and Paramount over the rights to stream the show, since HBO Max paid half a billion dollars for the rights to stream South Park before Paramount Plus launched in 2021. This led to Paramount paying 900 million for a separate streaming deal for South Park while the HBO deal was still running, and an eventual legal dispute between the two companies, which still continues. The merger would settle the legal dispute once and for all, and also bring South Park's ownership full circle.

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