Paramount Puts Its 30-Film-a-Year Pledge in Writing for Theater Chains
David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, is putting a promise in writing: the combined Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery company will release at least 30 theatrical films every year, with traditional windows that keep movies in cinemas before they reach streaming (Variety).
Paramount has offered three-year, contractually enforceable commitments to AMC Entertainment and Regal Cinemas, the two largest US theater chains. The deals would guarantee exclusive 45-day theatrical windows — meaning films stay in cinemas for 45 days before heading to any streaming platform — plus a moratorium on streaming distribution for at least 90 days. If Paramount fails to comply, there could be financial penalties (Variety).
Bloomberg reported that Paramount will formalise the 30-film pledge in writing to theater chains. The CEOs of AMC and Regal have publicly backed the merger (Variety; Bloomberg).
The written guarantee is a direct response to an antitrust lawsuit filed by 12 state attorneys general, which argues that a merged Paramount-Warner Bros. would wield excessive control over the market for theatrical releases. That lawsuit has halted the closing of the $111 billion deal, with a trial slated to begin in March 2027 (Variety; The Hollywood Reporter).
Ellison launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery and beat out Netflix to clinch the deal. Paramount's offer was $30 per share in all cash, which the company argued provided superior value and greater regulatory certainty than Netflix's sliding-scale merger proposal (Variety; Paramount IR). Under the eventual agreement, the combined company committed to releasing at least 30 films annually — roughly 15 per year from each of its two studios (Paramount IR).
In a New York Times op-ed on August 4, Ellison laid out an ambitious vision: 90 television series from the combined company's studios in 2026, 30 theatrical films a year, and more than $30 billion in annual content investment (NYT). He was candid about what no executive can promise. Ellison admitted he cannot guarantee the financial performance of any individual film, citing G.I. Joe: Retaliation as meeting financial expectations, Top Gun: Maverick as exceeding them, and Terminator: Dark Fate as falling short (Variety).
The 30-title and 45-day window guarantee does not address another prong of the antitrust lawsuit: the allegation that a combined Paramount-Warner Bros. would hold excessive power in the US basic cable TV market (Variety). That gap leaves the cable question unresolved heading into the March 2027 trial.
For theater owners, the written pledge is the most concrete commitment to theatrical volume and exclusivity they have received from a major studio in years. Whether it satisfies twelve state attorneys general is another matter entirely.
