When I was a kid in the late 90s, collecting Pokémon cards was a fun hobby. I’d buy packs, hoping to get the rarest “shinies,” or holographic cards. We’d trade with friends and even go to meet-ups to trade cards trying to “catch ’em all” —a catchphrase that defined the franchise that had gone from Nintendo Game Boy to an anime TV show.

When I started collecting again two years ago, things had changed. I’ve stood in line with 100 people in a parking lot outside a toy store for the latest restock of cards. I’ve seen four men huddled around their car talking about how much they could make by selling the trunk of cards they bought during a morning hitting different stores.

New cards can sell out in minutes. People coordinate on X and Discord to know where to go.

There are similar scenes in the U.S. Videos have circulated on social media of people stampeding over each other to get their hands on card packs. There have even been reports of smash-and-grab thefts of stores that stock cards. Prized cards resell at multiples of what they retail for. The rarest can sell for millions of dollars.

It’s a stark contrast from when I could walk into any store and buy however many I wanted.

From 2004 to 2020, Pokémon card prices rose 282%, according to an index compiled by Collectors, which owns card grading agency Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA). Since 2020, prices have risen by an incredible 1,350%, per the index.

Prices have surged and even outperformed traditional asset classes, attracting the attention of people looking to make a quick buck and ultra-high net worth individuals seeking investment assets to protect or grow their wealth.

People who have made money from cryptocurrency are piling into the market, market watchers told CNBC, as prices reach unprecedented levels.

When Paramount Skydance combines with the Warner Bros. film studio, it’ll have a deep bench of marquee franchises and established prestige. What the powerhouse duo will be missing is an animated film slate that could rival Hollywood giants like Disney and Universal.

The combined entity, which is still awaiting regulatory approval, has a stacked slate of tentpoles including DC superhero fare, a Minecraft sequel, another Sonic the Hedgehog film and new entrants from The Lord of the Rings universe. Not to mention, Warner Bros. just tied the record for the most Academy Award wins for a single studio earlier this month.

But it’s been kid-friendly animated content that is increasingly driving families to the theater — and neither studio has excelled in this area in the last decade.

Since 2016, Paramount and Warner Bros. have each released eight animated features on the big screen, with Paramount generating $1.1 billion in total global ticket sales from the category and Warner Bros. tallying $1.3 billion, according to data from Comscore.

During that time, only one Paramount animated film has generated more than $200 million globally — 2023’s “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” — and only one Warner Bros. animated title has scored more than $300 million globally — 2017’s “Lego Batman.”

For comparison, in the last decade Disney released 21 theatrical animated features, collecting $14.1 billion from the films; Universal released 23 animated movies to the tune of $10.7 billion; and Sony released 16, bringing in $4.6 billion in ticket sales.

Disney has seen seven animated features generate more than $1 billion globally during that time, and Universal has seen two.

These figures do not include live-action films with animated elements like Paramount’s Sonic franchise, Universal’s “Gabby’s Dollhouse,” or Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” which the studio considers a live-action film. They also don’t include animated films released to streaming during the pandemic that were later brought to theaters like Disney’s “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red.”

“When the moviegoing world is operating at or near peak efficiency, it’s virtually always because of a diverse release slate that includes one or more movies catering heavily to kids and families,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “Animation, in most cases, directly serves that audience while providing an anchor for studios and cinema owners to rely on.”

Together, Paramount and Warner Bros. accounted for 27% of the domestic box office in 2025, just shy of the 28% market share held by Disney.

“As Paramount and Warner Bros. merge, it becomes even more essential for their combined resources to be strategically directed toward developing a robust animated film portfolio,” said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore.

“Animated film releases are crucial for any movie studio, requiring a well-thought-out strategy whether the projects are original works, extensions of existing intellectual property, or reboots of beloved legacy franchises,” he added.

In the last two years, family-friendly fare with a PG rating has won at the box office, outperforming PG-13 and R rated films, Comscore data shows.

“This rating is significant because it allows these films to attract a broader audience, making them true four-quadrant releases with the highest box office potential of almost any genre in today’s movie marketplace,” Dergarabedian said.

Additionally, animated features are not usually front-loaded at the box office, Robbins noted, meaning they steadily generate ticket sales over the course of their run in theaters, gaining word of mouth.

A typical Hollywood film will see a 50% to 70% drop in sales from opening weekend to the second weekend after the rush to the theater fades. Animated features don’t always experience the same cliff.

For Disney’s “Hoppers,” for example, the opening week dropoff was less than 37%, and the second week drop was less than 38%.

“Not all animated releases are as successful as others, but they can be incredibly valuable with their potential for long-tail grosses alongside ancillary revenues via merchandising, down-window rentals and purchases, and other non-theatrical financial opportunities,” Robbins added.

Working in Paramount’s and Warner Bros.’s favor: They already have lucrative animated IP. The combined library features SpongeBob SquarePants, Smurfs, Paw Patrol, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and DC superheroes.

Disney and Universal have been successful in the last decade balancing new titles with sequels. For Disney, it has introduced stories like “Coco,” “Zootopia” and “Encanto” alongside “Frozen II,” “Toy Story 4” and “Inside Out 2.” At Universal, it’s had newcomers like “Sing,” “The Secret Life of Pets” and “Migration” arrive at the box office and returning favorites like “Kung Fu Panda 4,” “Despicable Me 4” and “The Bad Guys 2.”

“It will be important for a freshly minted Paramount/WBD combo to not only expand on these brands but also to develop new animated properties to have the best shot at capturing their share of the massive potential box office for this extremely popular and competitive category of film,” Dergarabedian said.

Disclosure: Versant is the parent company of CNBC and Fandango.

Hollywood could soon have a new king of the box office.

With Paramount Skydance set to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, the combined film studios could dominate the theatrical slate.

Paramount CEO David Ellison has repeatedly promised not to pull back on production from either studio, with the goal of making 30 movies a year — 15 from Paramount and 15 from Warner Bros. The pending transaction, with an enterprise value of $111 billion, must still win regulatory approval both in the U.S. and in Europe. 

As the current 2027 slate stands, the combination of WBD and Paramount would result in 26 theatrical releases. However, additions to that calendar could come as soon as April at the annual CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas.

This behemoth of a slate is dominated by Warner Bros. titles, and it’s likely that those films would account for the bulk of ticket sales.

The studio is set to release films from major franchises including Godzilla-Kong, Superman, Batman, Minecraft, The Conjuring universe, Gremlins and Lord of the Rings.

Meanwhile, Paramount will have new entries for Sonic the Hedgehog, Paranormal Activity, A Quiet Place and its animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchises.

While Paramount’s franchises are popular and have generated solid ticket sales at the box office, its major releases in 2027 are smaller budget features. In fact, no film in any of those four franchises has generated more than $350 million globally, according to data from Comscore. But with smaller budgets, they don’t have to in order to be profitable.

Warner Bros.’ part of the slate, on the other hand, has bigger budget features that in the past have generated bigger box office returns. The most recent Godzilla-Kong film generated $572 million globally, 2025’s “The Conjuring: Last Rites” tallied nearly $500 million, “The Batman” took in $772 million and “A Minecraft Movie” nearly hit $1 billion.

“When you look at the films on the horizon from the PAR/WBD combo it is most impressive,” Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Comscore, told CNBC. “And it may not be an overstatement to say that that slate could indeed have the potential to generate the biggest single studio box office in 2027.”

The Warner Bros. movie studio is a big part of why Ellison was so committed to winning over WBD’s board and its shareholders in a bidding war against Comcast and Netflix. Last year, Warner Bros. was the second-highest grossing studio at the domestic and global box office. Paramount was fifth.

Disney has long held the box office heavyweight title, although it was briefly overthrown in 2023 by Universal. Warner and Universal have jockeyed between second and third position, with Sony, Lionsgate and Paramount falling in line behind them.

Netflix has adjusted its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets to an all-cash bid, according to an SEC filing Tuesday.

Netflix now plans to pay $27.75 per WBD share entirely in cash to acquire WBD’s streaming platform HBO Max and the Warner Bros. film studio. The two companies initially reached a deal in December, composed of a combination of cash and stock at an equity value of $72 billion.

“The WBD Board continues to support and unanimously recommend our transaction, and we are confident that it will deliver the best outcome for stockholders, consumers, creators and the broader entertainment community,” said Ted Sarandos, co-CEO of Netflix, said in a release on Tuesday.

“Our revised all-cash agreement will enable an expedited timeline to a stockholder vote and provide greater financial certainty at $27.75 per share in cash, plus the value from the planned separation of Discovery Global,” Sarandos said in the release.

CNBC’s David Faber and other media outlets reported last week that Netflix was likely to make the adjustment as Paramount Skydance continues to build up pressure in its hostile takeover attempt for the entirety of WBD, which also includes cable TV networks such as CNN and TNT.

With the offer amendment, the timeline for shareholder approval could shift to as early as late February or early March, Faber reported last week, citing sources familiar with the matter. Previously, shareholders were expected to vote on the deal in the spring or early summer.

WBD’s board unanimously accepted the amended Netflix offer, according to Tuesday’s filing. The board has twice recommended that shareholders reject Paramount’s hostile bid in favor of the Netflix transaction.

Paramount recently sued for information in its hostile pursuit of WBD and has also launched a proxy fight, informing WBD shareholders that it intends to nominate directors for election to the Warner Bros. Discovery board at the company’s annual 2026 meeting.

On Tuesday WBD also filed a preliminary proxy statement seeking shareholder approval for its deal with Netflix. If the deal were to be approved, WBD’s cable TV networks would be spun off into a new, publicly traded entity known as Discovery Global.

If the deal were to be approved, the separation is expected to be completed in six to nine months, prior to the closing of the transaction between Netflix and WBD.

Netflix reports earnings after the bell Tuesday, and investors will be looking for further updates on the sale process.

Movie theater operators woke up Friday to the possibility of a new world order.

Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced a deal for the streaming giant to acquire WBD’s film studio and streaming service, bringing an end to a months-long bidding process that saw Paramount Skydance and Comcast also vying for the assets.

With Netflix as the victor, exhibitors are in a panic.

Unlike traditional movie studios, the streamer has not adhered to conventional theatrical distribution, and there are fears that big changes could be coming to an industry that is still struggling post-pandemic.

“It’s no secret that this was probably the least desired outcome for many theater owners,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory. “There are no two ways around that. This may be one of the most meaningful days in the history of the business, but it could yet be a constructive one for cinema if Netflix honors early indications that it will maintain the theatrical business model of Warner Bros. properties and lean into those unique strengths which are not replicable on the streaming platform.”

Cinema United, the world’s largest exhibition trade association, came out strong Friday morning against the sale of WBD assets to Netflix.

“The proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. by Netflix poses an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business,” CEO Michael O’Leary said in a statement. “The negative impact of this acquisition will impact theatres from the biggest circuits to one-screen independents in small towns in the United States and around the world.”

A half dozen movie theater operators who spoke to CNBC shared concerns that Netflix’s acquisition of WBD would lead to a significant decline in the number of films made available to cinemas annually and, therefore, hit annual box office ticket sales.

“Netflix’s stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition. In fact, it is the opposite,” O’Leary said.

Cinema United said the deal “would risk removing 25% of the annual domestic box office” putting smaller theater chains and independent cinemas, in particular, at risk.

“We are going to be pulling all of the levers we can because we think that a deal of this magnitude and the potential impact that it will have is something that everyone with regulatory and oversight authority needs to look closely at,” O’Leary said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” Friday. “So, we’ve already been talking to people at the federal level, at the state level and internationally because this is a significant, significant threat, we believe, to the long-term viability of the theatrical exhibition.”

And Cinema United isn’t the only group worried about the future of the industry if the Netflix deal is approved.

A collective of top industry players sent an open letter to Congress detailing the potential economic and institutional blowback that could play out if the merger goes through.

The letter, reported by Variety, stated that Netflix would “effectively hold a noose around the theatrical marketplace” and could alter the footprint of theatrical movies and decrease licensing fees paid in post-theatrical windows.

Paramount Skydance, Comcast and Netflix formally submitted takeover offers for Warner Bros. Discovery this week ahead of a deadline for first-round offers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, bid solely for the film and streaming assets, which consists of the Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max, the people said. The offer would see NBCUniversal become the parent of the WBD assets, one of the people said, and would not involve a spinout of NBCUniversal as some in the industry had speculated.

Comcast is currently in the process of spinning out its portfolio of cable networks, which includes CNBC, but will retain NBCUniversal. As of January, that business unit will consist only of the broadcast network NBC, streaming service Peacock, Universal film studio and theme parks.

Comcast’s offer included a clause that would allow WBD to spin out its own cable networks, including CNN and TNT Sports, at any point before the proposed acquisition closes, the person said.

Comcast President and soon-to-be co-CEO Mike Cavanagh recently telegraphed in an earnings call that an acquisition of studio and streaming assets would be complementary to NBCUniversal. Cavanagh also said the company believes a deal would be “viable” in the context of the current regulatory environment.

Like Comcast, Netflix, also bid solely for the film and streaming assets, according to the people familiar.

Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance once again submitted, its fourth to date. In recent days, Paramount Skydance and its advisors had been weighing whether to submit a higher bid than its previous $23.50-per-share offer that WBD rejected, some of the people said.

Netflix’s offer was expected to be “disciplined” with its bid, one of the people said. Details on the size of all three offers weren’t immediately clear.

Warner Bros. Discovery alerted the bidders that it had received the offers and would be back in touch with them soon, one of the people said.

Representatives for Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, Netflix and Comcast declined to comment.

Warner Bros. Discovery is aiming to have its sale process wrapped up by mid- to late-December, CNBC previously reported. Another round of bids is expected to occur in the coming weeks, some of the people said.

Last month Warner Bros. Discovery said it was expanding a strategic review of its business to include a potential sale — even as it carries on with a plan to split into two separate entities: Warner Bros., made up of the film studio and streaming platform, and Discovery Global, which would include the company’s pay TV networks.

While Warner Bros. Discovery’s split has been underway, takeover interest from the newly merged Paramount Skydance led WBD CEO David Zaslav and top brass to open up to a formal sale process.

If an offer for the studio and streaming assets were to be successful, Discovery Global would move forward with its spinout and current WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels would become CEO.

Paramount has already sent multiple letters to WBD’s board explaining why its offer of $23.50 per share for all of WBD’s assets is in the best interest of shareholders and the company itself.

WBD’s stock gained 1% Friday to close at $23.19 per share. The company’s share price has increased more than 20% since announcing it was up for sale in October.

Paramount CEO David Ellison recently met with Saudi-backed sovereign funds about financing a potential transaction, although the conversations were only preliminary and Ellison and his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, are prepared to fully finance a transaction, people familiar with the matter said.

While Paramount is interested in a deal for the entirety of WBD, the formal sale process has opened up the possibility of a buyer for only part of the legacy media company.

— CNBC’s David Faber contributed to this report.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.