After Paramount Skydance reached a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in late February after Netflix dropped its bid for the company, many saw this merger as a bleak omen for cinema.
If successful, the deal – estimated at around $111bn – would consolidate two of Hollywood’s most significant studios. It would reduce the number of US film studios to four, and many believe the merger would result in diminishing quality and significant job losses.
Paramount chief executive David Ellison has asserted the deal would be good for the creative community. However, Ellison and his father Larry Ellison both have close ties to Donald Trump – something which has prompted fears that the merger would mean fewer films like recent Oscar winners One Battle After Another and Sinners, both Warner Bros. titles which engage in politics and explore topics which Trump would frown upon.
Now, more than 1,000 film and TV stars and creatives, including Joaquin Phoenix, Jane Fonda, Bryan Cranston, Laura Poitras, Javier Bardem, David Fincher, Denis Villeneuve, Mark Ruffalo, Emma Thompson and Yorgos Lanthimos have signed an open letter opposing Paramount Skydance’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
“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 letter, available on the website BlocktheMerger.com, states. “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.”
The letter argues that “media consolidation has already weakened one of America’s most vital global industries – one that has long shaped culture and connected people around the world” and concludes that a “vibrant future” must be ensured for the US’ “single most significant export”.
Scroll down to read the full letter.
Paramount issued a statement in response to the letter:
“We hear and understand the concerns that some in our creative community have raised and respect the commitment to protecting and expanding creativity.
Importantly, as creators we know firsthand that this is also a moment when the industry has been facing significant disruption – and the need for strong, creative-first and well-capitalized companies that can continue to invest in storytelling has never been greater.
This transaction uniquely brings together complementary strengths to create a company that can greenlight more projects, back bold ideas, support talent across multiple stages of their careers, and bring stories to audiences at a truly global scale – while strengthening competition by ensuring multiple scaled players are investing in creative talent.
We have been clear in our commitments to do just that: increasing output to a minimum of 30 high-quality feature films annually with full theatrical releases, continuing to license content, and preserving iconic brands with independent creative leadership – ensuring creators have more avenues for their work, not fewer.
We understand the concerns raised as a result of the disruptions caused to our industry by COVID, entry of big-tech, and changes in consumer behavior, but we promise this: Paramount remains deeply committed to talent, and this merger strengthens both consumer choice and competition, creating greater opportunities for creators, audiences and the communities they live and work in.”
The deal still needs to be approved by shareholders later this month, as well as get a stamp of approval from government regulators.
Read the open letter in full below:
“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 – and the audiences we serve – can 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.
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 – and on what terms – leaving 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.
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’s most vital global industries – one that has long shaped culture and connected people around the world.
Fortunately, someone is doing something about all this. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and his colleagues in other states are repotedly 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.”