UPDATE: The same Monday Bonta filed his Godfather-flavored lawsuit, the split screen got sharper — with Ellison working the other side of the country to lock in a federal film tax incentive over dinner with Republican leadership in Washington.
Update: Paramount has fired back, calling the suit “wrong on both the facts and the law.”
One day is all it took for the Paramount–Warner Bros. merger lawsuit to move from the courthouse to the op-ed page.
Hours after filing, California Attorney General Rob Bonta published a guest column at Variety defending the suit, and he opened it by taunting David Ellison with a Godfather reference.
Ellison, Bonta writes, may think the mega-merger “is an offer we can’t refuse.” His response: “He’s wrong.”
That’s the AG of California trolling Paramount with Paramount’s own crown jewel.
And it confirms what the past 48 hours already made obvious: this fight is being waged in public as much as in court.
Ellison’s camp leaked to Semafor on Sunday that Paramount might pull out of California if Bonta sued. Bonta sued Monday morning. By Monday afternoon, he was quoting The Godfather in Hollywood’s hometown trade. Nobody is waiting for a judge.
The real target is Washington
Bonta’s sharpest attack isn’t really aimed at Paramount. It’s aimed at the Trump administration.
He warns about “billionaires currying favor with the president so he’ll do their bidding” — a clear suggestion that the DOJ’s approval of the merger was politically influenced.
Oregon AG Dan Rayfield called it a possible “corrupt bargain” while seeking records of Paramount’s lobbying, and NPR cites reporting that DOJ leadership rushed the approval before career attorneys could intervene. The outgoing antitrust chief denies that claim.
The states aren’t merely saying the merger is illegal. They’re suggesting the federal review was rigged.
The op-ed and lawsuit make different cases
Bonta’s column focuses on democracy, fewer journalists and CBS News and CNN ending up under one owner. But that isn’t the case filed in court.
The lawsuit challenges the merger in three markets: wide-release movies, blockbuster movies and basic cable licensing. News isn’t one of them. Even NPR noted that Bonta’s announcement barely addressed CBS News and CNN.
The reason is obvious: “consolidation threatens democracy” makes a stronger headline than “27% of the basic cable bundle.”
But headlines won’t decide the case. A federal judge will rule on the allegations in the complaint, not the arguments in Bonta’s op-ed.
It is also worth remembering that the anti-merger campaign has left-wing billionaire money of its own behind it. Both sides are selling this as a populist fight.
Meanwhile, DC twists
Every week this plays out in the press is another week DC Studios stays frozen, with insiders describing open season on James Gunn’s job while the deal hangs.
Paramount and WBD haven’t agreed to pause the closing, the TRO fight is coming, and the Q3 timeline is now officially in a courtroom’s hands.
Bonta quoted The Godfather. The sequel gets made in federal court.
