Cinemark has joined AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas in publicly backing Paramount Skydance’s proposed $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, leaving Cinema United as the last major voice in the theatrical exhibition industry still holding out.
“The enduring success of our industry requires a healthy theatrical ecosystem supported by financially sound studios and exhibitors that can effectively create, distribute and exhibit high-quality films to consumers around the world,” Cinemark said in a statement reported by Variety.
Cinemark’s endorsement, reported this week, caps months of quiet negotiation between Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and the country’s theater owners. Chains worried for over a year that shrinking Hollywood’s major studios from five to four would mean fewer movies reaching their screens. Cinemark, led by CEO Sean Gamble, had stayed largely on the sidelines of that fight until now.
The chain said it would support “media consolidation that increases the quality and output of films” — but only with guaranteed marketing support and theatrical windows behind any promise. Ellison reportedly agreed to put those guarantees in writing before Cinemark signed on. He has pledged at least 30 studio movies in theaters every year once the merger closes, with a 45-day window before those movies move to premium video-on-demand and 90 days before they land on a streaming service.
Regal and AMC made similar bets earlier this year. Regal Cinemas CEO Eduardo Acuna and AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron both argued that a prolonged court fight helps nobody — not the studios, not moviegoers and not the theaters counting on a steady supply of new releases.
Not everyone is convinced. Cinema United, the trade group representing all three chains along with hundreds of independent theater owners nationwide, has held its ground.
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Michael O’Leary, Cinema United’s president and CEO, said the group sent Paramount Skydance a “comprehensive list” of concerns back on July 1 and “have not heard from them since.”
The holdout matters because a dozen state attorneys general are suing to block the merger outright, arguing it would concentrate too much power in too few studios. A federal judge granted the states a temporary restraining order this summer and later extended it.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the early ruling “a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day.”
A trial on the merger’s legality isn’t expected until 2027. Movieguide® has followed this saga since Paramount first floated a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, and the throughline hasn’t changed.
When the number of companies greenlighting movies shrinks, so does the number of storytellers who get a seat at the table — a concern that matters to families long before anyone debates ticket prices. Theater owners cheering this deal aren’t wrong that certainty beats years of litigation limbo.
But families who care about what ends up in theaters, and what doesn’t, have good reason to keep watching whether these “enforceable” commitments hold up once the merger actually closes. Promises made to win over exhibitors are easy to make in a press release. They’re harder to keep three years into a newly combined studio’s balance sheet.
For now, the exhibition industry sits split along an unusual line: chains answerable to shareholders lining up behind Ellison’s pledges, and the trade group meant to speak for the whole industry still waiting on a callback. Whether that gap closes before a judge rules may decide who actually gets to hold Paramount to its word.
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