Looks Like the Paramount–Warner Bros. Deal Will Go Through After All

After a shaky summer for the Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger — including a 12-state lawsuit spearheaded by the California attorney general, a Mark Ruffalo smear campaign, David Ellison writing a confusing op-ed for the New York Times about how his politics are actually “movies” — it’s starting to look like this Hollywood mash-up could finally, actually happen. On September 21, Paramount reached a settlement with the states blocking the merger by agreeing to a series of concessions in order for the deal to the go through.

Though the full scope of the agreement is not yet known, anonymous sources told the Times that two of the concessions include establishing “a board of journalists to ensure the editorial independence of CNN and CBS News” and further commitment to distributing 30 movies in theaters every year, which was one of the hallmark promises of Ellison’s Times op-ed. The states initially argued that Paramount’s potential acquisition would violate antitrust laws. “Red flags are everywhere when you have a merger of this type,” California attorney general Rob Bonta said earlier this year. But maybe now that he knows we’ll have at least 30 movies in theaters every year, he feels differently?

The agreement is somewhat unexpected, as Bonta last expressed frustration over how Paramount was handling things. Soon after news of the settlement broke, the Writers Guild of America issued a statement of its own, announcing that it too had settled. “We continue to believe the merger will cause damage to writers and the industry at large. Now that the attorneys general have settled with Paramount, however, as a nonprofit, the WGA must contend with the reality of forging ahead alone, with no backing from government enforcers, with a complex antitrust lawsuit that would cost millions of dollars to pursue through trial,” the guild wrote. The WGA was put in an unenviable position once Bonta agreed to settle on behalf of the states, though the union’s swift agreement is already unpopular with some.

In a statement to Paramount employees that same day, Ellison said that it’s his goal to close the deal for Warner “in approximately two weeks.” Given Paramount is responsible for paying WBD shareholders a fee of $7 million per day for every day the merger doesn’t happen after October 1, this may all be wrapped up before we know it so Ellison can back to thinking about all those movies he wants to release. Fingers crossed for another Minecraft.

This story has been updated.