Tim Richards, CEO and founder of the European theater chain Vue Cinemas, has joined a growing list of theater executives voicing supporting of a potential Paramount-Warner Bros. merger.
“We welcome today’s decision from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to approve Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, following the European Commission’s approval in July,” Richards said in a Thursday statement. “It has been an incredibly challenging six years for our industry, from the pandemic through to the Hollywood strikes and this decision is an important step towards providing the final level of certainty for the sector.”
This news comes one day after Regal Cinemas CEO Eduardo Acuna announced his own supporting of the pending merger. Richards and Acuna join AMC CEO Adam Aron, the first theater exec to lead this charge, as Paramount Skydance prepares to go to court next spring against a dozen state attorneys general seeking to block the merger.
“The industry now needs final certainty so it can focus on what matters most: making and releasing great films. David Ellison is a highly respected filmmaker that has consistently demonstrated a long-term commitment to feature-film making and theatrical exhibition,” Richards said in his statement. “We believe the industry will be stronger with Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery coming together, rather than competing separately. The time, money and energy invested in this process should be directed back into creating the next generation of films for audiences around the world.”
You can read the full statement from Richards below:
“We welcome today’s decision from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to approve Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, following the European Commission’s approval in July. It has been an incredibly challenging six years for our industry, from the pandemic through to the Hollywood strikes and this decision is an important step towards providing the final level of certainty for the sector.
“This summer is shaping up to be one of the strongest summers on record with ‘Toy Story 5’ and ‘The Odyssey’ already passing over $1 billion in box office and ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ passing $1 billion in 6 days and now firmly on its way to join the $2 billion club as one of the highest grossing movies in history. The ‘Spider-Man’ trailer was viewed by well over 1 billion people leading to an incredible record-breaking number of advance ticket sales being made, surpassing our previous biggest pre-sale record by more than 90%. It was also one of our biggest box office weeks ever with well over 3 million of our customers joining us for the incredible big screen experience. Meanwhile, the ongoing sell-out screenings for Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey,’ ‘Toy Story 5,’ ‘Minions and Monsters’ and ‘Moana’ underline the extraordinary strength of the theatrical slate this year. It is another reminder that when the films are there, the audiences will come in record breaking numbers and there are many more exceptional releases still to come this year.
“The industry now needs final certainty so it can focus on what matters most: making and releasing great films. David Ellison is a highly respected filmmaker that has consistently demonstrated a long-term commitment to feature-film making and theatrical exhibition. We believe the industry will be stronger with Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery coming together, rather than competing separately. The time, money and energy invested in this process should be directed back into creating the next generation of films for audiences around the world.
“As Europe’s largest privately held cinema operator and one of the largest in the world, we believe that this combination will strengthen the theatrical ecosystem and will support an even greater investment in feature films. We are seeing an unprecedented investment in feature film making from the legacy studios and Amazon MGM, Apple, Lionsgate, A24, Canal+ and so many others, the future of theatrical exhibition has never looked better. A deal has to happen, so we are hopeful that the remaining regulatory processes will not be delayed further and allow for the expeditious combination of two amazing studios to be concluded so they can bring even more great stories to audiences worldwide.”
More to come …
