20 years ago, David Ellison’s flop as an actor stressed him out so much he went to the hospital. Now he’s set to own Paramount and Warner

In its debut film, Skydance Productions released a special effects-laden World War I drama about fighter pilots with a starring role for an unknown actor, the company’s founder, David Ellison.

It was a box office bomb.

Twenty years later, in a twist fit for Hollywood itself, the tiny studio once brushed off as a billionaire scion’s vanity project is poised to be an entertainment behemoth. With that once-unknown actor at its helm and a merger with Paramount already under its belt, Skydance is now on the cusp of another takeover that once seemed unthinkable, this time of storied giant Warner Bros. Discovery.

“It’s only a surprise to those who haven’t been paying attention to the long game,” says Walter Nicoletti, founder of the film production company Voce Spettacolo, noting Skydance’s focus on financing hit movies and accumulating assets while partnering with some of the biggest companies in the business. “This is a sort of a silent takeover. Skydance didn’t start as a predator. It started as an essential partner.”

When Ellison, the son of tech giant Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, launched Skydance as a 23-year-old in 2006, the company registered little more than a blip in an industry where he was just another rich newcomer trying to gain a foothold in the warmth of Hollywood’s bright lights.

“Flyboys,” the war story it chose as its inaugural feature, did little to raise its profile.

“Cloyingly formulaic,” jeered The Seattle Times. An “inflated wannabe epic,” chimed in The Washington Post. “It’s hard not to giggle,” concluded The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The celebrated critic Richard Roeper........

© Fortune