Donna Langley says Paramount-Warner merger is “bad for everything” in films
A Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery merger would be bad for cinemas, NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios chairman Donna Langley said.
“I think it is bad. I think it’s bad for everything,” Langley said about the feature film market, meaning movies made for cinema release. She spoke during a Q&A at the Bloomberg Screentime conference, as reported by Deadline.
Volume matters, she said. Fewer studios would mean fewer films. She described the earlier Fox-Disney combination as “wasn’t great” for keeping that output up, arguing that theatrical volume, or the number of films released in cinemas, needs more suppliers rather than fewer.
Paramount has committed in a legal settlement to hold output up if a deal goes ahead. The combined studios would release 30 theatrical films per year for the first two years after a merger. That number would rise to 32 films per year for the following three years.
Langley also discussed how Universal organises its own film and television work around major talent. Universal has signed writer and producer Taylor Sheridan to a new five-year film and television deal. The pact covers both cinema films and television series, and it starts in early 2029 after his exit from Paramount.
The pursuit was personal and persistent. Langley visited Sheridan numerous times in person to secure the agreement. Former Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy is in talks to join NBCUniversal as a producer to help work with Sheridan.
The Sheridan deal sits inside Langley’s wider remit across the company. She recently took over television programming for NBCUniversal, adding TV to her longstanding film responsibilities, as reported by Puck. She was elevated in a C-suite shake-up in late 2024 connected to a cable spinoff.
On the release calendar, Langley said 2027 has a different complexion with less potential for billion-dollar hits than 2026. She added that 2028 will be back again. The comments set out how Universal sees the next run of big cinema releases.
She backed one title to cut through. She said she felt confident that Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey for Universal would cross $1 billion in ticket sales at the box office.
For fans, this means two things to watch. How many big films reach cinemas each year, and who makes them. Sheridan starting afresh in 2029 and Nolan’s Odyssey chasing $1 billion are early markers.
