Movie Theater Owners Reverse Course on Paramount-Warner Bros., Now Favor Settlement Talks - The Hollywood Reporter
Cinema United, a trade organization representing movie theaters, has shifted its stance to support settlement talks regarding the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The group previously opposed the deal but now believes a negotiated resolution could provide necessary industry protections and stability.
Why it matters
This shift could significantly impact the regulatory path of a major media consolidation, potentially easing the way for a merger that would reshape the entertainment landscape.
Cinema United has had a change of heart on the prospect of a Paramount – Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
The movie theater trade organization previously cheered on 12 state attorneys general, including California's Rob Bonta, as they filed suit to block the merger of the two historic studios. But in a letter postmarked Tuesday, the organization changed course and called for both Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and Bonta to "meet in the immediate future and discuss all possible avenues for resolving" the lawsuit.
The letter from Cinema United president and CEO Michael O'Leary and Cinema United board chair Mike Bowers, the president and CEO of Harkins Theatres, was broad in its explanation of why the coalition, previously so fierce in its opposition to the megamerger, was changing its tune. But they gestured to recent successes at the box office and fears that that momentum could slow in their explanation.
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