“It’s not a reality yet so there’s not really a need to speculate too much,” said Adam Aron, CEO of AMC Entertainment. But, as suitors surround Warner Bros. Discovery, he insisted the country’s largest chain is focused on one thing: whether a deal will mean more movies in theaters or not.
On a call with analysts after the quarterly results, Aron said he was “more than pleased” that Paramount, under new owner David Ellison, was committed to boosting theatrical releases in the future. The studio “was down to seven films a year. We believe Paramount publicly stated that it wanted to more than double that number of films as quickly as possible.
“Similarly, Warner Bros. [was] …up to, I think, 11 films in 2025, and they would also like to do that and are committed to increasing the release of more films in 2026 and beyond. This is also very good for AMC.
“So I guess as far as any potential studio consolidation goes, our attention will be focused on one issue, which is literally the number of movies coming out of the studios. Obviously, if there are more movies, it’s good for AMC. So we’re watching closely… will the number of movies coming out of the studios increase in the future?”
WBD releases its quarterly results tomorrow morning. The company officially went on the sidelines last month after rejecting three offers from Paramount. Amazon MGM, Comcast and Netflix are also interested.
Deadline has learned that a data room is active.
WBD studies offers for the entire company or for its activities separately. If no deal comes to fruition, it is planned to split into two publicly traded companies next year: Warner Bros. (studios and streaming) and Discovery Global (media networks).
The merger of Hollywood studios – that is, Disney and Fox – does not generally lead to greater production than before a combination, although with Paramount’s production increasing, it is unclear what a mixed slate with WBD would look like. Ellison insisted he had talent in mind, alongside shareholders, and told a recent conference that, for any deal, “we would address it [to] do more, not less.
