UPDATE: Puck’s Matthew Belloni has the backstory. The 30-movie pledge was part of a 12-concession consent decree Paramount sent Bonta on May 16, before the lawsuit, and Bonta never responded, so Ellison took the offer straight to the theaters. Cinemark’s board meets this week on whether to join AMC and Regal, with smaller chains getting the same offer next.
UPDATE, August 18: Cinemark said yes. The third biggest chain in the country is now backing the merger, and Cinema United is asking Bonta and Ellison to meet.
Bonta’s best argument just lost its teeth.
Per a Bloomberg scoop, Paramount has agreed to sign contracts with the world’s two biggest theater chains guaranteeing it will release 30 movies a year in cinemas if it buys Warner Bros.
What Paramount Is Signing
The deals: three-year agreements offered to AMC and Regal.
The terms: 30 theatrical releases a year, each playing exclusively in theaters for at least 45 days, and held off streaming for at least 90 days.
The agreements are private, per Bloomberg’s sources. But their purpose is very public.
The Word “Unenforceable” Just Stopped Working
Remember Bonta’s one clean shot, the argument he landed in his podcast grilling: executive promises made to get mergers approved are worthless.
Zaslav promised 20 movies and delivered nine, so why believe Ellison’s 30?
The states’ own court filing, the one that uses Batgirl as evidence, called the 30-film pledge “unenforceable and implausible.”
A contract is the opposite of unenforceable. That is the entire point of a contract.
If Paramount breaks the promise, AMC and Regal can take it to court.
The pledge Bonta said no one could hold Paramount to is becoming something two of the biggest companies in exhibition can sue over.
(Update: Belloni adds the honest caveat: the breach penalties aren’t specified, and chains rarely sue their biggest supplier. The contracts are pressure, not handcuffs. But pressure is the whole game now, and Bonta’s new op-ed dismissing them as “piecemeal promises” shows the pressure is being felt.)
The Theater Coalition Is Cracking
Here’s the part that should worry the states most.
Their lawsuit is backed by Cinema United, the lobby that speaks for theater owners, including AMC and Regal.
Now look at the week.
AMC boss Adam Aron backed the deal in an op-ed, writing that if the AGs really care about theaters, they should focus on holding Paramount to its promises, and AMC intends to.
Regal CEO Eduardo Acuna followed, calling Ellison sincere, revealing Ellison has even offered the states a consent decree, and warning a long trial “could be damaging to our industry.”
And now both chains are being handed contracts.
The states say they’re suing to protect theaters. The two biggest theater companies on the planet keep siding with Paramount.
The Settlement Board Fills In
Count the pieces on the table.
Newsom pushing Bonta to settle.
The judge telling both sides to pick a settlement referee.
Ellison saying Paramount is “absolutely open” to a deal. A consent decree offer sitting with the AGs. And now enforceable contracts as the template.
Everything Paramount is signing privately is exactly what a settlement would demand publicly.
Per our insiders, the peace offering was always built on the 30 movies and the 45-day windows. Now it’s going on paper.
Bonta asked why anyone should believe the next promise of 30.
The answer came back in writing.
