“Plaintiffs present compelling evidence that the combined firm resulting from the transaction will possess substantial market share in the wide-release theatrical distribution market,” writes District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in a decision obtained by Deadline. “On this combined firm market share alone, the Court is persuaded that it can presume the proposed merger is likely to violate antitrust laws… The Plaintiff States thus make a strong showing that the Transaction will substantially lessen competition.”
Paramount is presently barred from taking any further action to close the deal. The state attorneys general—led by California’s Rob Bonta with participation from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington—must file a motion for a preliminary injunction by July 23. The hearing for the injunction will take place on August 3, which could halt the legal process indefinitely. In a statement to Deadline, Bonta said, “This is a critical first win in our case to ensure this megamerger never sees the light of day.”
While the merger has never been an especially popular proposition for large swaths of the people who work in Hollywood, efforts to block it really ramped up last week with lawsuits from states and from the Writers Guild of America. The merger was originally slated to be complete within Q3 of 2026, but today’s action seems fairly promising for those against the merger. As Martínez-Olguín writes toward the end of the decision, “The balance of equities, combined with the public’s vital interest in antitrust enforcement, therefore tips sharply in favor of the requested injunctive relief.”
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