“It's definitely an interesting time. It's certainly not the first period of upheaval in the movie industry," Will Grandbois, the general manager of Carbondale’s Crystal Theatre, said.
"We've been forecasting the death of movie theaters since VHS tapes –– actually since television –– and it hasn't happened yet, and I think there are good reasons for that," he continued. "I think we need the industry to understand why it makes movies and why people watch movies, and hopefully that will continue regardless of who owns Warner Brothers."
On February 27, Paramount Skydance chairman and CEO David Ellison struck a deal to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery with its president and CEO David Zaslav. Since the $111 billion deal was announced, it has faced several issues moving forward.
Most notably, on July 13, a lawsuit was filed against the Paramount deal from 12 state attorneys general. The plaintiffs are asking California courts to block the deal, claiming that the studio acquisition is unlawful and will hurt movie theatres, contribute fewer films to the market, and raise consumer prices.
Former owner of the Crystal Theatre, Bob Ezra, is not a fan of the merger.
“ It just doesn't feel right, you know? It’s creating a monopoly,” Ezra stated.
Bob and Kathy Ezra owned and managed the Crystal Theatre for nearly 40 years until it was sold.
“ Ultimately, it's really beyond me, but I think most filmmakers and most people in the business are not looking forward to the merger,” Ezra said.
Carbondale’s Crystal Theatre has been in the Dinkle Building on Main Street since 1949. To save the theatre when the Ezras retired, the Crystal Theatre Alliance non-profit was formed, and now Kate Schwerin and Will Grandbois maintain it. After almost four decades of running the Crystal, Ezra understands how this deal could potentially affect theatres.
“ The problem with it is that they will control Warner Brothers, which has been a very good and friendly studio to movie theaters, and they have made some good movies, and they give terms that are always pretty decent," Ezra explained. "Disney bought Fox and Fox Searchlight, and it got a lot worse for theater owners because their terms are very difficult. You know, they take a big percentage, and they take it during the whole run of the movie, and that hurts the theater owners."
"Paramount –– Ellison claims they'll put, I don't know, 30 movies out a year," he continued. "But that's one thing to say that and another thing to do it.”
Despite what Ellison claims about producing 30 movies a year, the Los Angeles County Department of Economic Opportunity released a report on August 18 with data projecting negative economic impacts. One number the report shares is a potential loss of over 15,500 corporate roles across both companies during the proposed three-year merging period. The overall effect could be hard on many people across the industry, as Ezra notes.
“Like I say, I don't think it'll be good for theater owners or filmmakers for that matter,” Ezra said.
The deal is garnering backlash because Paramount and Warner Bros. are two out of the five major Hollywood film production studios. CNN, MTV, HGTV, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon are just a few cable channels Warner Bros. owns. The attorneys general allege the acquisition would create an illegal monopoly where too many networks are owned by a single entity. Grandbois understands the effects of this potential deal as well.
“This consolidation of the industry has a lot of downsides and not that many upsides," Grandbois stated. "It does seem like as you consolidate, A) fewer films get made; that's what we've seen in the past, and when an individual company has a huge percentage of the market share, they also have a huge amount of influence over the rules and less inclination to be receptive to what theater owners or moviegoers may want of them. They kind of get to do it the way they want to do it, for better or for worse.”
While Paramount, Warner Bros., Sony, Disney, and Universal are and have been the five major producers for film, the heart of film lies in the filmmakers and crews dedicated to their craft. Staying in touch with the purpose of film is front of mind for Grandbois.
“I hope that these executives are sitting in theaters with some degree of regularity because that’s where the rubber meets the road. I really appreciate Jason Reitman, the director of Juno and some of the last Ghostbusters; his outing at Cinema Con was not just as a director and a speaker, but he was also out there cruising theatre seats cause he recently bought a theatre in L.A., and he did that with a bunch of other big-name directors," Grandbois explained. "But, yeah, seeing him sit in seats and really get the nitty-gritty of, “What does this look like on the ground?” gave me a lot of hope that okay, these guys, they’re not going to be out of touch. At least the filmmakers really are trying to get it.”
Grandbois makes a great point. There are alternative, independent, and small studios that are producing inspiring films. Ezra reminds us that local theatres have options for contracting movies from other sources as well.
“Another one that's making movies, and I actually think is a good development, is Amazon 'cause they bought MGM. Amazon puts out some decent movies, and they're pretty good to work with. So, there's some alternatives,” Ezra added.
Studios like A24, Blumhouse Productions, Cartoon Saloon, and more understand why film is special and important. Laika, a studio specialized in creating stop-motion pictures, is coming out with a feature film called Wildwood in October. Just like these niche studios, local theatres, like the Crystal, are spaces dedicated to providing community access to film. While this potential acquisition could affect theatres, Grandbois remains firm in his belief that the community will rally around local theatres and independent filmmakers will lead the industry.
“ I think people go out for the communal experience; the dedicated experience to sit in a dark room with a bunch of other folks in their community, to prepare for it by getting their popcorn, getting their candy, getting settled, and really experience the movie. And also, certainly that's what the filmmakers are mostly envisioning when they're creating the movie. They want you to see it in that setting. They're building and crafting something that's intended for attention. And so I'm really glad to be able to offer that!” Grandbois exclaimed.
