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The Sad-Sack WarnerMount Resistance & Ovitz’s Hollywood Revival

David Ellison’s long, contentious slog toward a Warner Bros. takeover has engendered a sense of inevitability—and dread. Plus, Michael Ovitz is back and he’s replying to email. And Gunnar gets emotional.

David Ellison
Despite the blowback, the Ellisons are projecting inevitability. Photo: Valerie MaconAFP/Getty Images
Kim Masters
April 28, 2026
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“I wish the attorney general in California would get off his ass,” one unhappy Warner Bros. Discovery executive told me recently. Or, this person continued, maybe European regulators would slow things down enough to test Larry Ellison’s endurance, or “maybe it’s the midterms” that could somehow turn things around. Is there a chance that the war will lead to trouble with the financing? What about a strongly worded letter?

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