AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron backed the $110 billion Paramount and Warner Bros. merger on Wednesday, using a Variety commentary to tell state Attorneys General not to stand in the way. He called AMC a full-throated supporter of the deal and framed the fight around how many movies still make it to theaters.
Aron’s Wednesday message
Aron told the Attorneys General, “Well thanks, but no thanks,” and described them as “possibly well-intentioned state Attorneys General.” That is a blunt line from a chief executive whose company has spent years selling the case for theatrical release.
He also said the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. could keep rolling out movies at the pace David Ellison has promised: at least 30 movies theatrically per year, with 45 days before films are offered on video on demand. For AMC, that schedule is the business issue, not the merger rhetoric.
Nicole Kidman ads in play
Aron quoted AMC’s Nicole Kidman-starring self-promotional ads twice, and called the spot “the best one-liner synopsis that AMC ever has had written.” He also cited Rocky and The Shawshank Redemption in the same sentence while arguing that theaters bounced back after the COVID lockdown.
That choice of examples was not decorative. Aron was tying the merger to a simple demand: keep supplying theaters with enough films, long enough, to keep audiences coming back instead of waiting for home viewing.
AMC’s competition line
Aron said he does not really give a shit about competition as long as the combined studio keeps releasing movies on time. That is the contradiction inside the endorsement: he is backing a huge consolidation while saying the only metric that matters is whether the pipeline stays full.
AMC said it had its most successful quarter ever, which gives Aron room to sound confident while he publicly aligns his chain with Paramount and Warner Bros. The practical question now is simple for exhibitors: will the merged studio actually deliver the 30 theatrical releases and 45-day window Aron says theater chains need, or will regulators treat the deal as a market squeeze worth stopping?
