'Long live the movies': Paramount's David Ellison makes big promises to theater owners at CinemaCon

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Paramount Skydance CEO and chairman David Ellison made big promises to movie theater owners at CinemaCon on Thursday in Las Vegas. Ellison said he will guarantee 30 movie releases a year between Paramount and Warner Bros., and that he is committing to a 45-day exclusive theatrical window “starting today.”

“Long live the movies,” Ellison said.

His company’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, in a deal valued at $111 billion, has been the source of much handwringing and speculation in Hollywood and exhibition. But Ellison came to the conference ready to show the exhibitors in the audience that he is serious about his commitment to movies and theaters, with a glossy mini movie about the studio’s past and future directed by Jon M. Chu and narrated by Tom Cruise. The promo featured cameos by Will Smith, Mark Wahlberg, Chris Pratt, Timothée Chalamet, John Krasinski and Teyana Taylor and closed with sweeping music and Cruise seated atop the iconic Paramount water tower.

“The future is paramount and the future looks pretty great from here,” Cruise said in the video.

Ellison told the exhibitors, “I love cinema and I love film. I always have and I always will,” and promised, “you can count on our complete commitment.”

The studio also announced that a third “Top Gun” movie is in development, in the script stage, with Cruise returning.

Paramount put on a big show for exhibitors with appearances by Johnny Depp, Billie Eilish and James Cameron. They touted planned franchises and IP like the live action “Call of Duty,” “A Quiet Place Part III” and the fourth “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie. They also originals including the adaptation of “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” with Daisy Edgar-Jones, a new Damien Chazelle movie with Cillian Murphy and Daniel Craig, and Teyana Taylor’s directorial debut, the dance movie “Get Lite.”

Depp was there to talk about starring in Ti West’s “Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol,” a story he said he’s been obsessed with since he was a child. Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Anna Faris came out for the sixth “Scary Movie.” And Gina Prince-Bythewood and actors Thuso Mbedu and Damson Idris also previewed the tribal action movie “Children of Blood and Bone.”

In late February, Paramount Skydance reached a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, which has been at the center of many discussions at the trade show and convention about what the implications might be for the depleted exhibition business.

No one mentioned Paramount at the over two-hour Warner Bros. presentation on Tuesday, but several of the filmmakers who made appearances were among the thousands who signed an open letter opposing the merger, including Denis Villeneuve and J.J. Abrams. In fact, the only studio other than Paramount to reference it at all was Amazon MGM, itself the product of an $8.5 billion merger, and it was in an irreverent promo for the “Spaceballs” sequel.

Cameron, who co-directed Paramount’s upcoming concert film “Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D),” is one of the filmmakers who has said he supports the deal and is unbothered by the prospect of a Paramount-owned Warner Bros. In an interview with The Associated Press last week, Cameron praised Ellison as a “natural born storyteller” who “really cares about movies.”

“He’s the right man for the job to run a major studio, and now it looks like he’s going to have two of them, you know, swept under his leadership, which doesn’t bother me at all,” Cameron said.

Paramount, which closed its own $8 billion merger with Skydance just months ago, promised that it would release 15 movies in theaters in 2026. The deal awaits a shareholder vote later this month and government regulatory approval at the state and federal level. The U.S. Justice Department still needs to weigh in on the blockbuster combination that could give Paramount pricing power over movies and other offerings, potentially hurting customers.

In documents filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paramount said, “Our priority is to build a vibrant, healthy business and industry — one that supports Hollywood and creative, benefits consumers, encourages competition, and strengthens the overall job market.”

They’ve also said they would look for ways to save some $6 billion through job cuts in “duplicative operations.”

Executives at Paramount have argued that merging with Warner will allow it to compete with bigger rivals particularly in the streaming space and bring larger content libraries for its customers. The 102-year-old Warner Bros. has a film library that includes “Harry Potter,” “Superman” and “Barbie.”

On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held a spotlight hearing in Washington, D.C., on the potential anticompetitive impact of the consolidation of two of Hollywood’s big five studios into one.

Actor Mark Ruffalo, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the merger said, “tens of thousands of workers will be left poorer, along with the audiences we serve.”

David Borenstein, who just won an Oscar for his documentary “Mr. Nobody Against Putin,” noted that it could further erode access to documentary filmmaking, “because a small number of distributors have consolidated power and decided to feed audiences a narrow and politically safe diet of content.” While neither Paramount Studios nor Warner Bros. are particularly well-known for their non-fiction releases, WBD companies CNN and HBO are.

Ellison did not attend the meeting in D.C. on Wednesday. An Ellison spokeswoman confirmed he attended a funeral Wednesday.