In what is becoming a very disturbing trend in Hollywood, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders have voted in favor of the Paramount-Skydance offer—because apparently, we’ve learned nothing from the last decade of consolidation.

This was a bad deal from the start. If time machines existed, the best course of action would be to go back and prevent David Zaslav and Discovery from ever coming anywhere near Warner Bros. Zaslav has been terrible for the studio’s legacy, choosing to delete finished films for tax write-offs and losing the NBA on TNT in the process. If not for ESPN stepping in, one of the best studio shows on television—Inside the NBA—would have been canceled outright. At this point, it’s easier to list what hasn’t been treated like expendable content.

If David Ellison hadn’t initiated his takeover attempts, Zaslav might never have decided to put Warner Bros. up for sale in the first place. While it’s true that Zaslav had no business running the company, Ellison is quickly making a case for being the worst David in Hollywood. And in an industry not exactly lacking for questionable Davids, that’s saying something. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that the Paramount-Skydance deal only went through after CBS settled with Trump over 60 Minutes and then canceled The Late Show franchise. Funny how ‘synergy’ always seems to arrive right after the journalism leaves the room.

If there is any consolation on this sad day, it’s that shareholders voted against compensation packages for Zaslav and other Warner Bros. executives.

On the creative side, Ellison talks a good game about believing in the theatrical experience. The reality, however, tells a different story. He seems to believe that a combined Paramount and Warner Bros. could churn out 30 films a year. That’s not a strategy—it’s a press release. Anyone who has looked at the output of Disney and 20th Century Studios since their 2019 merger knows that simply isn’t realistic. Unless this new entity plans to shift a significant number of projects to streaming, releasing 30 films theatrically each year is not feasible. Outside of event films, audiences simply are not going to theaters at pre-pandemic levels.

And if you’ve been paying attention to what’s happened to CBS News since Bari Weiss was handed the reins, CNN may be next. We’ve already seen a wave of departures at CBS News as a result of recent changes. If Weiss is given similar control at CNN, its legacy could follow the same downward trajectory. The fact that current administration officials are openly gloating about Ellison’s company taking over CNN says a great deal about how they view a free press. Nothing says healthy media ecosystem like politicians celebrating who owns the newsroom. Under Ellison, both CBS News and CNN risk becoming something far closer to state-run media.

Warner Bros. Isn’t Just Another Asset to Be Strip-Mined

This also doesn’t begin to address what will happen to Warner Bros. employees as redundancies lead to inevitable layoffs. Once Skydance was allowed to buy into Paramount, cuts began almost immediately. I’ve had professional relationships with home entertainment publicists for over a decade, and those roles were outsourced rather than kept in-house. Because nothing preserves a studio’s legacy quite like eliminating the people who actually maintain it. If that’s any indication, it’s hard not to worry about what’s coming for Warner Bros.’ home entertainment division—let alone Warner Archive.

Consolidation is disastrous for Hollywood. We’ve been told for years that bigger means stronger. So far, it’s mostly meant fewer jobs, fewer films, and fewer choices. The industry still hasn’t fully recovered from the pandemic or the dual strikes, and Los Angeles itself has yet to rebound as productions continue to leave the city. Allowing a storied studio like Warner Bros. to be swallowed up by Paramount will not reverse any of these trends.

The last hope for blocking this merger now rests with regulators, including the Justice Department and authorities in Europe. Several state attorneys general are already seeking to stop the deal, and one can only hope they succeed. Because if they don’t, what’s to stop Paramount from swallowing up even more legacy companies? Because if they don’t, it won’t stop here—and by the time anyone decides it’s gone too far, there may not be much of Hollywood left to protect.

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