Or was it? For months, a lose-lose situation has engulfed the debt-saddled studio, which has been fought over like a prized ham by two potential buyers, Netflix and Paramount. Which smiling caller to invite in? For a while, Netflix had the edge, signalling the ultimate takeover of legacy Hollywood by the streaming revolution. But then, last month, Paramount staged a hostile comeback and sent its rival packing (not without a handsome termination fee), with the likely result that two of Hollywood’s most storied studios would merge into one. Only Paramount isn’t quite Paramount anymore; it’s the vampirized Paramount Skydance, run by David Ellison, Hollywood’s acquisitive new boy king and the son of the Trump-aligned billionaire Larry Ellison.