Though U.S. and EU regulators still need to put the final stamp on the deal, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance officially announced that their $111 billion megamerger was full steam ahead back in February.<\/p>\n
The joint announcement followed\u00a0the bombshell news that Netflix had decided to pull out of the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery just a couple of hours after the David Zaslav-led media company\u2019s board declared Paramount’s new bid a \u201csuperior proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the deal, Paramount and Warner Bros. will operate as independent studios, with a commitment to 15 films from each every year, with full 45-day windows before going to premium video on-demand, with longer windows for hit films.<\/p>\n
There were various\u00a0other concerns, of course, and many\u00a0within the industry worry that Ellison\u2019s close ties to the Trump administration could\u00a0stifle free expression.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Several high-profile names have already spoken out against the merger, but the trades have now published an open letter with over 1,000 Hollywood actors, directors, writers and producers, including Joaquin Phoenix, Bryan Cranston, Glenn Close, Ben Stiller, Don Cheadle, Jason Bateman, JJ Abrams and Yorgos Lanthimos expressing \u201cunequivocal opposition\u201d to the deal.<\/p>\n
You can read the letter in full below.<\/p>\n
“As filmmakers, documentarians, and professionals across the movie and television industry, we write to express our unequivocal opposition to the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries\u2014and the audiences we serve\u2014can least afford it. The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world. Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major U.S. film studios to just four. <\/p>\n
Our industry is already under severe strain, in large part due to prior waves of consolidation. We have witnessed a steep decline in the number of films produced and released, alongside a narrowing of the kinds of stories that are financed and distributed. Increasingly, a small number of powerful entities determine what gets made\u2014and on what terms\u2014leaving creators and independent businesses with fewer viable paths to sustain their work. Media consolidation has accelerated the disappearance of the mid-budget film, the erosion of independent distribution, the collapse of the international sales market, the elimination of meaningful profit participation, and the weakening of screen credit integrity. <\/p>\n
Together, these factors threaten the sustainability of the entire creative community. That includes endangering the professional lives of the tens of thousands of workers who help make up that community in predominantly small businesses and independent companies embedded in local economies and communities nationwide. We are deeply concerned by indications of support for this merger that prioritize the interests of a small group of powerful stakeholders over the broader public good. The integrity, independence, and diversity of our industry would be grievously compromised. Competition is essential for a healthy economy and a healthy democracy. So is thoughtful regulation and enforcement. Media consolidation has already weakened one of America\u2019s most vital global industries\u2014one that has long shaped culture and connected people around the world. <\/p>\n
Fortunately, someone is doing something about all this. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his colleagues in other states are reportedly scrutinizing the merger and considering legal action to block it. We are grateful for their leadership, and stand ready to support all efforts to preserve competition, protect jobs, and ensure a vibrant future for our industry, for American culture, and for our single most significant export.”<\/p>\n
Representatives for Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to request for comment, but it’s difficult to imagine anything getting in the way of this merger now that the wheels are in motion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Though U.S. and EU regulators still need to put the final stamp on the deal, Warner Bros. Discovery…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[227665,227667,23342,49,48,4276,75,227668,227666,57558,227664],"class_list":{"0":"post-601484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-000-plus-hollywood-names","9":"tag-and-david-fincher","10":"tag-ben-stiller","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-denis-villeneuve","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-have-signed-an-open-letter-opposing-the-paramount-warner-bros-merger","16":"tag-including-joaquin-phoenix","17":"tag-kristen-stewart","18":"tag-more-than-1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}