A federal judge blocked Paramount Skydance Corp.’s $110 billion purchase of Warner Brothers Discovery Inc. on Monday, temporarily freezing a deal that would place two of Hollywood’s five major studios under one owner while a dozen states press an antitrust challenge. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the US District Court for the Northern District of California temporarily restrained Paramount from closing the acquisition or consolidating operations. The judge found the states had raised serious questions under Section 7 of the Clayton Act, a federal law barring mergers that may substantially lessen competition. The order stopped short of completing the antitrust burden-shifting analysis, citing the absence of a full evidentiary record. The defendants disputed the states’ market definitions but assumed them for purposes of the motion, offering a competing expert and arguing that low entry barriers undercut the concentration figures.