David Ellison’s ascent to the summit of Hollywood energy traces an unconventional flight path. At 13, the Oracle founder’s son obtained a unprecedented present from his father: his personal airplane. By 17, he was performing aerial acrobatics in skilled airshows. Twenty years later, he has traded the cockpit for the boardroom, steering his firm via a $8 billion merger that positioned him atop Paramount, with hopes of including Warner Bros. to his trophy case.
The aviation obsession started early. After watching Prime Gun as a toddler, David Ellison turned fixated on flying. His billionaire father, Larry Ellison, bought a aircraft for him at age 13, and so they took classes collectively. By 16, he was flying a high-performance German aerobatic plane able to rolling 360 levels in below a second. Wayne Handley, a pilot who labored with the household, instructed Selection that to “pry this airplane out of David’s hands, Larry bought him a top-of-the-line aerobatic airplane out of Germany, the Extra 300.”
David Ellison soloed on his sixteenth birthday and started competing in airshows at 17. In 2003, at 20, he turned the youngest member of the Stars of Tomorrow aerobatic crew on the EAA AirVenture Present in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He flew a Cap 232 painted in full Flyboys regalia to advertise the 2006 movie.
“I started flying aerobatics when I was 14,” he instructed Smithsonian Air & Area journal. “I flew a bunch of airshows, a competition in an Unlimited, and I flew at Nationals.”
The pivot to leisure emerged step by step. It was whereas finding out movie on the College of Southern California that Ellison appeared in Flyboys, taking part in an American pilot combating for the French within the World Conflict I drama. The movie value $65 million however earned solely $18 million, marking a quick performing profession.
Ellison deserted aggressive flying and performing on the identical time, dropping out of USC to deal with manufacturing. In 2006, he based Skydance Media with monetary backing from his billionaire father. The corporate’s title displays Ellison’s ardour for stunt flying, also referred to as “skydancing.”
Skydance’s first main success got here with the Coen brothers’ True Grit in 2011, which grossed over $250 million worldwide on a $38 million finances. This launched a partnership with Paramount that produced 5 Mission: Unattainable movies grossing $3.3 billion globally, two Star Trek motion pictures, and the record-breaking Prime Gun: Maverick, which is the 14th highest-grossing movie of all time.
The Paramount merger, permitted by federal regulators in August, culminates Ellison’s transformation from daredevil to mogul. Now 42, David is the chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance, overseeing CBS, MTV, and Paramount Photos. The deal confronted obstacles together with competing bids and political stress from President Donald Trump, who extracted a multimillion-dollar settlement from Paramount over a 60 Minutes lawsuit.
Ellison’s technique facilities on expertise integration. He plans to create a “studio in the cloud” with Oracle’s infrastructure, utilizing AI to streamline manufacturing and cut back prices. The corporate will double theatrical releases whereas modernizing Paramount+’s streaming algorithms to reduce subscriber cancellations.
Rivals observe he has turn out to be adept at managing monetary outcomes whereas appeasing high-profile expertise, two vital points of studio operations.
However Ellison nonetheless has that flyboy DNA: He has his pilot’s license to function helicopters, carry out aerobatics, and fly business and multi-engine plane. Now, the daredevil who as soon as thrilled Oshkosh crowds is navigating a unique form of turbulence—a 113-year-old studio in an business being reshaped by streaming giants and tech conglomerates.
For this story, Fortune journalists used generative AI as a analysis instrument. An editor verified the accuracy of the knowledge earlier than publishing.
