Hollywood
First film to be shot in 6K and re-framed in 5K
NEW DELHI: David Fincher’s Gone Girl is the first feature film anywhere in the world to be shot entirely in 6K (with the Red Dragon) and the first studio feature film to be entirely edited on Adobe Premiere Pro CC.
Though the film was shot in 6K, it was re-framed for 5K. “Shooting in 6K, we had a large amount of Red media content to be converted and reviewed,” post engineer Jeff Brue said in a NVIDIA case study. “This, combined with a need for an ability during editorial for every shot to be reframed, posed a unique challenge.”
Starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris, the film is based on a novel by Gilian Flynn who has himself written the screenplay. With his wife’s disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it’s suspected that he may not be innocent.
It was also the first to use NVIDIA’s new Quadro K5200 GPU—which has double the memory and 30 per cent faster performance than its predecessor—in its workflow, according to the National Association of Broadcasters (US).
The NVIDIA GPU technology was used to convert the footage to DPX at “blazingly fast” speeds, according to Brue. “The NVIDIA Quadro 5200 was extremely performant in the production by allowing the playback and real time downscaling of 6K to 4K—something that was crucial to ensuring the best post production experience,” Brue added.
Hollywood
Paramount Skydance secures financing for Warner Bros Discovery deal
Debt syndication and new loans push $111 billion merger closer to close
WASHINGTON: Paramount Skydance has taken a major step towards its planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, securing fresh financing and completing the syndication of its bridge loan facility.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company confirmed that the bridge facility has now been distributed among a group of 18 banks, reducing total commitments to $49 billion from an earlier $54 billion. The move spreads risk across lenders and signals growing confidence in one of the year’s largest media deals.
Alongside this, the company has finalised permanent financing arrangements, including $5 billion in senior term loans and a $5 billion revolving credit facility. A previously planned $3.5 billion credit line has been dropped as part of the restructuring.
The loans are secured against key assets, including Paramount Global, Skydance Media and Warner Bros post-merger, underlining the scale and complexity of the transaction.
The financing push follows a competitive bidding process earlier this year, which saw interest from players such as Netflix before Paramount Skydance emerged as the frontrunner. The deal, valued at $111 billion, is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
Adding to the momentum, the company has also secured significant equity backing, including investments from Middle Eastern funds, with support from billionaire Larry Ellison, who has guaranteed the equity portion of the transaction.
Commenting on the development, Paramount Skydance chief strategy officer Andy Gordon said, “Our successful debt syndication and new debt facilities represent another important milestone towards the completion of our acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.”
Once completed, the combined entity is expected to carry net debt of just under $80 billion, reflecting the sheer scale of the merger.
As Hollywood continues to consolidate in the streaming era, this deal could reshape the competitive landscape, with Paramount Skydance betting big on scale, content and financial muscle to take on global rivals.
