Hollywood Petition to Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Tops 4,000 Names as Robert De Niro, Sofia Coppola, Holly Hunter and More Join the Fight
The $111 billion deal that would see Paramount Skydance swallow up Warner Bros. Discovery took another step closer to reality Thursday after WBD shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favor of the merger.
But the pact isn’t over the finish line — and a new batch of Hollywood A-listers including Robert De Niro, Sofia Coppola and Holly Hunter have signed on to an open letter opposing the Paramount-WBD combination, citing the threat of lost jobs, higher costs for consumers, and fewer TV shows and movies.
As of Thursday morning, the letter had 4,194 total signatories after launching on April 13 with 1,000 names. Organizers said the list of film and entertainment industry union members, actors, and directors includes more than 75 Oscar winners and nominees. The group is hoping to sustain opposition the Paramount-Warner Bros. deal, which is still pending approval by regulators in the U.S. and Europe — and could be subject to litigation seeking to stop the merger by state attorneys general.
The coalition behind the open letter also organized a rally outside WBD’s Manhattan headquarters at 9 a.m. ET ahead of the shareholder vote. In addition, they’re planning to stage a protest Thursday at 5:30 p.m. ET in Washington, D.C., outside of a private dinner that Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is hosting “honoring” President Donald Trump and CBS News White House correspondents. The Ellison function is being held at recently renamed “The Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.”
“As filmmakers, documentarians and professionals across the movie and television industry, we write to express our unequivocal opposition to the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger,” the letter at BlockTheMerger.com states in part. “This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it. The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world. Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major U.S. film studios to just four.”
Other signatories to the letter include: Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal, Edward Norton, Atsuko Okatsuka, Joaquin Phoenix, Ben Stiller, Kristen Stewart, Adam McKay, Alan Cumming, Alyssa Milano, Boots Riley, Bryan Cranston, Cynthia Nixon, Damon Lindelof, David Fincher, Denis Villeneuve, Elliot Page, Glenn Close, Jane Fonda, JJ Abrams, Jason Bateman, John Leguizamo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Margaret Cho, Mark Ruffalo, Noah Wyle, Patti Lupone, Ramy Youssef, Rosario Dawson, Rosie O’Donnell, Ted Danson, Tiffany Haddish, Tig Notaro, Yorgos Lanthimos and Yvette Nicole Brown.
Organizers of the BlockTheMerger.com open letter include the Writers Guild of America (WGA), Film Future Coalition, Democracy Defenders Fund, Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment, and the American Economic Liberties Project.
Democratic lawmakers including Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts also have been rallying to stop Paramount’s WBD takeover. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” Warren said in a statement after the shareholder vote Thursday. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
RELATED: Mark Ruffalo Blasts Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger at Senate Hearing: ‘Don’t Trust Empty Promises from Billionaires’
