“It’s not a reality yet and so there’s no real need to speculate too much,” said AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron. But, as suitors circle Warner Bros. Discovery, he insisted the nation’s largest chain is laser focused on one thing — whether a deal will mean more movies in theaters or not.
On a call with analysts after quarterly earnings, Aron said he’s “beyond thrilled” that Paramount, under its new owner David Ellison, has committed to boosting theatrical releases going forward. The studio “was down to seven movies a year. We think that Paramount is on record as saying they want to more than double that movie count as quickly as they can.
“Similarly, Warner Bros. [was] … down to I think 11 movies in 2025, and they also would like to be and are committed to increasing the release of more movies in 2026 and beyond. That also is very good for AMC.
“So, I guess with respect to any potential studio consolidation our attention will be laser focused on one issue and one issue only and that is literally the number of movies coming out of the studios. Clearly, if it’s more movies, that’s good for AMC. So we’re watching closely … will the number of movies being issued going forward go up?
WBD reports quarter earnings Thursday morning. The company formally put itself on the block last month after rebuffing three offers from Paramount. Amazon MGM Studios, Comcast and Netflix are also interested.
Deadline hears a data room is active.
WBD is considering offers for the whole company or its businesses separately. If no deal emerges, It is ultimately planning to separate into two publicly traded companies next year: Warner Bros (studios and streaming) and Discovery Global (media networks).
Merging Hollywood studios — i.e., Disney and Fox — does not generally lead to greater output than before a combination, although with Paramount’s output rising it’s not clear what a blended slate with WBD would look like. Ellison has insisted he’s got talent at top of mind along with shareholders and said at a recent conference that, with any deal, “We would approach it [to] make it more, not less.”