Logo text
Depending on which side you ask, Hollywood is booming, or it’s in a state of crisis.
If you ask Paramount, it’ll say that tech and entertainment giants like Netflix, Amazon and Google have cornered the industry such that the only way to truly compete is through consolidation. By its thinking, a marriage of two legacy studios is not only the strongest card left to play but the only one — a move that will boost competition to the benefit of consumers and workers.
But if you ask the coalition of 12 states that sued to block Paramount’s $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, business is “thriving,” their word in the lawsuit, at least for theaters. The core of its lawsuit to stop the deal revolves around the idea that the merger will undermine a rebounding theatrical landscape.
The contrast is one of several distinctions between Paramount and state prosecutors in a case that will define Hollywood for years to come. Expect a lot of legal jockeying.
