Paramount and the state of California are reportedly headed to the negotiating table, as THR reports that a judge has ordered the media conglomerate and the state to set a time for a two-day, in-person negotiation session to try to hammer out their differences over Paramount’s efforts to eat fellow studio Warner Bros. (The Writers Guild Of America, one of several film industry labor groups who’ve expressed skepticism over the $111 billion merger, will also reportedly be involved in this rounds of talks.)
Things have gotten off to a pretty fractious start between Paramount and California, with state attorney general Rob Bonta leading a coalition of AGs from other states opposing Paramount’s efforts to acquire its historical rival. The fight has, in fact, already escalated to full-on threats, as Paramount has threatened to pull its business out of the state entirely; Governor Gavin Newsom has made comments suggesting he would really prefer that not happen, which presumably puts some pressure on Bonta to play nice. At the same time, there’s no obvious indication that this trip to the table will be able to get anywhere at all: Bonta is reportedly still pushing hard for structural changes—i.e., a change to the material foundations of the deal that would involve Paramount ending up with less of Warner Bros.’ current media portfolio—while Paramount’s David Ellison has stuck to nice, easy verbal promises, like the repeated vow to release 30 movies per year from the combined studios. Neither is reportedly budging on these points, which could push the conflict to a trial currently slated for 2027.
Timing-wise, it’s worth noting that the negotiations are set to kick off at the end of October. That means, among other things, that Paramount will officially be into the “ticking” part of the ticking fees it’s going to start owing Warner Bros. starting on October 1, a reported $7 million per day fee it’ll owe the company after promising it could clear regulatory hurdles easily given its, let’s say, “strong” relationship with current American federal regulators. And while we’re pretty sure David Ellison and father Larry think of “$7 million” the way normal human beings think of pocket change, that price tag is going to add up—all the more if the conflict ends up bouncing out of the negotiating room and into the courtroom next year.
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