By Dawn Chmielewski
LOS ANGELES, Aug 18 (Reuters) – Cinema United, a trade organization representing theater owners, on Tuesday appealed to California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Paramount Skydance to meet and discuss a settlement to an ongoing antitrust case.
The trade group made its appeal for a settlement in a letter to Bonta and Paramount CEO David Ellison. The group said that it is aware of how studio consolidation impacts movie theaters and consumers, but said it is open to “tangible and enforceable guardrails” that would protect them.
“Since the outset, we have been open to steps that will protect the exhibition industry. This is the next step in that process to ensure a thriving industry for generations to come,” a Cinema United spokesperson said.
The call for a settlement comes after the chief executives for two of the nation’s biggest theater chains, AMC Theatres and Regal Cinemas, endorsed the $110 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery.
Neither Paramount nor Bonta could immediately be reached for comment.
(Reporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles and Jody Godoy in New York; editing by Chris Sanders)
