Paramount Offers Theatrical Release Guarantee for Warner Bros Acquisition Deal

Paramount Skydance is offering AMC and Regal a written, three-year guarantee to release at least 30 films theatrically each year, a concession aimed at salvaging its $110 billion acquisition of WBD. Under the proposed contracts, new releases would stay exclusively in theaters for at least 45 days and stay off streaming for at least 90, addressing the industry's core fear that a combined studio would shrink the theatrical slate.

The offer follows a setback for the deal: a coalition led by California's attorney general and 11 other states sued in July to block the merger, and a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order later that month pausing PSKY's ability to close or integrate with WBD. The judge called the states' evidence of theatrical market concentration "compelling" when issuing the order.

The AMC and Regal contracts reportedly include financial penalties if Paramount misses its annual release targets. Regulators elsewhere have already cleared the deal: the Justice Department approved it in June, the EU granted conditional approval in July, and the UK's competition authority signed off in early August, leaving the state antitrust suit as the primary remaining obstacle.

A trial on the states' claims is scheduled to begin in March 2027, well past Paramount's original target of closing the deal in the third quarter of 2026. Investors could watch whether the theatrical guarantee helps Paramount's case at trial or whether the states and the Writers Guild of America, also a plaintiff, press ahead regardless.

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