Why theater owners are balking at Hollywood's latest mega deal

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Industry consolidation and the exodus of film production work overseas took center stage Tuesday at the CinemaCon trade convention in Las Vegas.Head theater lobbyist Michael O’Leary said his trade group will continue to oppose the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros.Discovery, arguing the combination of two studios would be “harmful to exhibition, consumers and the entire entertainment ecosystem.”O’Leary, who serves as president and chief executive of Cinema United, said the theater owner trade group will continue to press the issue at the state and federal level.

Hollywood Inc.CEO Josh D’Amaro told Disney staff that the fast-changing landscape ‘requires us to constantly assess how to foster a more agile and technologically-enabled workforce.’“Unfortunately, history shows us that consolidation results in fewer films being produced for movie theaters,” he said during a speech about the state of the industry .

“Further concentrating marketplace power in the hands of a smaller group of distributors that dictate the terms, windows, scheduling, screen-placement of movies, and access to historic film catalogs will have a real and lasting impact on Main Street and millions of movie fans around the world.”The Paramount-Warner merger is a major topic at this year’s convention.White buttons emblazoned with “#Block the merger” in red font have shown up at events throughout CinemaCon.

Already, nearly 1,000 artists and movie creators have signed a letter opposing the deal.Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison has said the combined company will produce 30 films a year — 15 each from Warner Bros.and Paramount — but exhibitors question how realistic that goal is, given the expected cost cuts from the deal and the $79 billion in debt with which the newly combined company would be saddled.If the merger cannot be stopped, Cinema United i...