--- description: Find out why David Ellison is one of the 100 most influential people of 2026. title: David Ellison: The 100 Most Influential People of 2026 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt642380d70006bccd/69dfb5b7fb4e6e38bc0a0c29/T100-2026-David-Ellison-Web-New1.jpg?branch=production --- Apr 15, 2026 # David Ellison by Jerry Bruckheimer  Frankie Alduino—Redux David Ellison loves entertainment. My team was in a quagmire developing 2022’s _Top Gun: Maverick,_ then David came in and funded hiring another screenwriter. I was impressed by him. Not only was he extremely knowledgeable about aviation, but he was also a student of film. He loves theaters and wanted to pack them with people. Over the years, as the founder and CEO of Skydance Media, David proved himself. But merging with Paramount in 2025 and then moving to [acquire](https://time.com/7381536/paramount-warner-netflix-larry-david-ellison-donald-trump-democrats-reactions/ "undefined") Warner Bros. Discovery this year? It’s pretty extraordinary. For a lot of people in our business, it’s all about the money, but David’s a creative guy. He’s the first owner _and_ operator in Hollywood since Walt Disney. I also think David is like all of us: We want to win. We want to create something that lasts beyond our lifetimes. I think he’s going to do it. _Bruckheimer is an Oscar-nominated producer_ David Ellison Is on the 2026 TIME100 List ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/david-ellison/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/david-ellison/"},"headline":"David Ellison","datePublished":"2026-04-15T11:00:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:21:51.799Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/david-ellison/","keywords":["TIME 100","list","franchise","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt642380d70006bccd/69dfb5b7fb4e6e38bc0a0c29/T100-2026-David-Ellison-Web-New1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jerry Bruckheimer"}],"creator":"Jerry Bruckheimer","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt642380d70006bccd/69dfb5b7fb4e6e38bc0a0c29/T100-2026-David-Ellison-Web-New1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people/2026/david-ellison/","name":"David Ellison"}}]}] ```