<\/p>\n
LOS ANGELES \u2014 More than 1,400 actors, directors and filmmakers \u2014 including Emma Thompson, Ben Stiller, Javier Bardem and Glenn Close \u2014 have signed an open letter calling on California Attorney General Rob Bonta and federal regulators to block the proposed merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, warning the $111 billion deal would further destabilize an industry still recovering from years of disruption.<\/p>\n
The merger would reduce the number of major U.S. film studios to four, the letter argues, narrowing the field of buyers and makers of film and television and reducing the number of paths available to working creators. Los Angeles writer and director Heather Fink, one of the signatories, said the deal represents the latest in a series of blows to an industry that has not had time to recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, we have the Disney-FOX merger, then the pandemic, then the fires, then the strikes \u2014 it’s one thing after another,\u201d Fink said. \u201cAnd now, with this merger, it is yet another threat to the entertainment industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opposition arrives at a complicated moment for Hollywood. Domestic box office revenue is up 23% compared to this point last year \u2014 the strongest start since the pandemic. But behind the scenes, production is still fleeing. According to ProdPro, a global production analytics firm, U.S. production spending fell 20% in 2025, the steepest decline of any major market, while the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Czech Republic posted double-digit growth.<\/p>\n
Entertainment attorney and media analyst Jonathan Handel said consolidation at this scale carries tangible consequences. \u201cWe are going to see layoffs amongst staff, but also we are going to see less production,\u201d Handel said. \u201cPeople are very afraid that the number of theatrical releases is going to decline and the number of independent buyers is going to decline because of this consolidation. That\u2019s not good for business.\u201d<\/p>\n
For those still trying to break in, the uncertainty is just as acute. Will Chehab, a post-production assistant and aspiring writer-director who moved to Los Angeles a year ago, said he hopes the outcome serves workers and storytellers. \u201cI just hope that they end up being the best thing for storytelling, for audiences, for workers,\u201d Chehab said, \u201cand that it\u2019s not just an excuse to feed a couple of pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a statement to multiple media outlets, Paramount Skydance said it \u201chears and understands\u201d the concerns raised but argued the deal would strengthen the industry rather than shrink it. The studio pledged to release a minimum of 30 high-quality theatrical films annually, continue licensing content, and preserve iconic brands under independent creative leadership \u2014 \u201censuring creators have more avenues for their work, not fewer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe need for strong, creative-first and well-capitalized companies that can continue to invest in storytelling has never been greater,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n
The deal \u2014 which would bring together properties including HBO, celebrity.land, Looney Tunes, Harry Potter, the Warner Bros. film library, CBS, MTV and Paramount Pictures \u2014 still requires shareholder approval later this month and a sign-off from federal regulators.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fink said she remains skeptical that the promises will hold. \u201cYou\u2019re going to lose a lot of great minds and great talent,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m not confident that it\u2019s going to be replaced with anything better.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Hollywood rebounds at the box office, many inside the industry say they are already bracing for what could come next.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source mynews13.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LOS ANGELES \u2014 More than 1,400 actors, directors and filmmakers \u2014 including Emma Thompson, Ben Stiller, Javier Bardem and Glenn Close \u2014 have signed an open letter calling on California Attorney General Rob Bonta and federal regulators to block the proposed merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, warning the $111 billion deal would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2303921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[22694,317977,21796,22691,21741,352834,352833,71501],"class_list":["post-2373330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-app-arts-entertainment","tag-app-local-business","tag-business","tag-california","tag-entertainment","tag-socal-what-you-need-to-know","tag-taylor-schaub","tag-vod"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Hollywood-sounds-off-on-Paramount-eying-Warner-Bros.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2373330"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2373331,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2373330\/revisions\/2373331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2303921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2373330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2373330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2373330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}