UPDATE, September 18: They may not be waiting for October. The Wall Street Journal reports Paramount and Bonta are in “advanced talks” to settle, as Paramount tours a Nashville headquarters site.
UPDATE, September 16: That room may be too late. Per TMZ, conversations inside the Mayor’s and Attorney General’s offices suggest no deal is possible, and Paramount is “deadly serious” about leaving California.
The settlement talks are on the calendar.
Paramount and California Attorney General Rob Bonta will sit down for two straight days at the end of October to try to work out a deal ending the lawsuit that has the $111 billion Warner Bros. merger on hold, per The Hollywood Reporter.
The order came out of Friday morning’s court meeting. The judge running the talks told both sides to pick the two days and get him the dates by Tuesday, September 15. The sessions happen in person, starting at 10 a.m.
THR notes the first meeting is introductory, so nobody is signing anything in that room. But it is the first time since talks blew up in August that both sides have actual dates to show up for.
First Step Back To The Table Since August
Bonta canceled the last scheduled meeting on August 24, accusing Paramount of leaking details and “playing games.” Since then: nothing.
The two sides are still far apart. Bonta says he will only take a deal where pieces of the combined company get sold off. Paramount has offered promises instead, like 30 movies a year in theaters.
Earlier today, Charles Gasparino reported David Ellison has “tricks up his sleeve” to close that gap, starting with painting Bonta as the odd man out among California Democrats who want this settled.
The Meter Will Already Be Running
Look at the calendar Paramount is staring at.
First comes September 24, when the court hears Paramount’s demand that the states post a $1.88 billion bond to keep the deal paused.
Then October 1, when Paramount starts owing Warner Bros. shareholders $7 million a day until the deal closes. That is also Ellison’s reported deadline to settle before Paramount starts moving out of California.
The two-day sit-down comes after all of it. By the time everyone is in the room, Paramount will have been paying that fee for weeks.
If nothing settles, the trial starts in March 2027.
And everything Ellison wants to do with DC is waiting on that room.
