To Merge or Not to Merge: It's NOT a Question

We’ve written about it a couple of times in our first few posts, but we’re done burying the lede: media consolidation is detrimental to independent exhibition. From CinemaCon to the upcoming Cannes, the merger remains the talk of the town. Below, we’ll publish in full, Art House Convergence’s Official Statement of Record written for a since-cancelled Senate hearing, and cited in official documents presented by our partners at Future Film Coalition to Senator Cory Booker for the April 15th hearing (where you may have seen independent film supporters Mark Ruffalo & David Borenstein, Mr. Nobody Against Putin testify as well.)

And lest you think this is just an American problem, we’re also linking to official statements from our global partners, the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas (Threat to Cinemas, Audiences & the European Film Ecosystem) and the Network of Canadian Independent Cinemas (Open Letter to the Competition Bureau of Canada.) The consolidation has ripple effects far beyond the shores of Hollywood.

Read on… (and for a quick reference “Q&A” style read, click here.)

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WRITTEN STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD OF ART HOUSE CONVERGENCE

Art House Convergence (AHC) appreciates the opportunity to submit this statement for the record in connection with the April 15, 2026 Public Forum entitled “Consolidation and Control: The Paramount-Skydance/Warner Bros. Discovery Merger’s Threat to Jobs, Creative Independence, and News Journalism.“

AHC is a coalition of independent and art house exhibitors that connects, amplifies, and advocates for independent film exhibition across the U.S. AHC magnifies their individual and collective economic impact, and the vital role they play in sustaining our arts and culture landscape and local communities nationwide.

An art house cinema is defined as a movie theater or cultural third space (including museums, archives, libraries, galleries, universities etc.) whose film programming is curated to their particular audience and includes, but extends well beyond, mainstream movies, foreign films, documentary, and independent film. Many art houses are known for their specialized screening formats (including 35mm, 70mm or Vista Vision) educational programs, customer-first approach. Crucially movie theaters provide the necessary arts and community spaces that keep small towns, suburbs, and cities thriving, well after the credits end and the lights come up.

Since the widespread theatrical exhibition of film began in the early 1900s, cinemas have been vital neighborhood spaces and cornerstones of Main Streets in all 50 states. Movie theaters offer cool escapes on hot days, and warm spaces from the cold. They act as economic drivers, keeping consumer spending local. Recent research shows that for each dollar spent in a local movie theater, an additional $1.50 is spent in surrounding businesses in the community. Notably, they provide all this and more while retaining only a fraction of the cost of each paid admission. The quintessential American entrepreneurial spirit built into the foundation of independent movie theaters faces an existential threat from corporate mergers.

AHC and our national and international partners– including the U.S.’ Cinema United, the International Confederation of Art House Cinemas (CICAE) which represents cinemas across Europe, and the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE)-are aligned in our deep concerns about a pending merger resulting from the sale of Warner Brothers Discovery. Continued consolidation affects the global exhibition industry in its entirety.

Disney’s 2019 acquisition of Fox Studios provides precedent for the outcome of any WBD merger. Despite opposition from theaters, the merger resulted in reduced film production, decreased first-run content for theaters, increased negotiating leverage for Disney, exacerbated difficulty in accessing a two substantial repertory catalogues of studio films in favor of prioritizing streaming on Disney+ over theatrical distribution, and the loss of thousands of jobs across the industry.

AHC is deeply concerned that a Warner Brothers acquisition by Paramount or any other corporation will have an immediate effect on independent theaters and moviegoers across the country. Ticket prices will increase to cover operating expenses, theaters will be forced to shutter, cinema workers will lose their jobs. Rural communities will lose access to both an American pastime and movies made outside an ever-shrinking studio system - deeply impacting the cultural significance of moviegoing as one of our country’s most affordable and accessible art forms.

A Warner Brothers’ sale and consolidation will also limit audiences’ access to decades of past and forthcoming studio films, as it is more lucrative for corporations to place these films on their own streaming platforms rather than making them publicly available to cinemas. Fewer films will be produced that are representative of our country’s cultural diversity as studios prioritize and cater to mass appeal. Independently produced media is already facing a distribution crisis, and conglomeration only serves to accelerate this problem. Currently, independent cinemas offer a vast variety of film programming to local audiences, and the loss of this programming opens further debate around free speech, democracy, and authoritarian control over media.

AHC would like to highlight two key issues to the attention of the subcommittee:

• Theatrical Windows: In addition to a proposed merger’s effect on film production, resulting in fewer theatrical releases for new films, it also affects the release patterns themselves. “Theatrical Windows” - the period of time in which a film is only available to audiences in a movie theater - are an essential component of the exhibition business.

  The pandemic, coupled with the accelerated rise of streaming services, had already shortened the traditional theatrical window length from 90 to approximately 30-45 days, often even shorter for independent films, at 17 days. (In 2020, AMC Theatres struck a deal with Universal Studios for a 17-day exclusive theatrical window that their chief executive has subsequently unwound and cited as a poor decision.)

  The increased market power of streaming platforms post-pandemic has caused a severe decline in the Pay-One window fees for independent distributors who were previously used as curatorial sources for new independent film. The Pay-One window is the exclusive streaming period on a specific platform, e.g. HBO Max, or Paramount+. As a result of the decline in the Pay-One fees, independent distributors have less cash to mount a theatrical release including the necessary marketing budget. In fact, many film distributors forgo a theatrical release at all, depriving the public of an accessible and immersive opportunity to see the film and the filmmakers the opportunity for meaningful revenue and awareness. By skipping a theatrical release and going straight to VOD (Video on Demand), each film product experiences a meaningful depression in its lifetime economic prospects. Without proper marketing for its digital release, a film disappears into an algorithm on Paramount+ or HBO Max for example, controlled by a corporation - disallowing any perception of “on demand” access for American audiences.

  A theatrical window supports downstream revenue via subsequent channels of distribution including VOD, physical media and other ancillary rights. Therefore, an inadequate theatrical window depresses the entire film ecosystem, all the businesses, the creators, the film workers, and most importantly, the audience, who loses out on the opportunity to see the film in the format it was made for: the big screen.

  Consolidation also concentrates power otherwise afforded to exhibitors when negotiating for better theatrical terms, including window length, ticket revenue splits, and other demands and requirements currently placed on theaters, mainly by the large studios. Fewer players means worse terms for exhibitors, raising their costs and reducing the experience for their customers.
  

• Repertory Programming: Repertory films, or a studio’s catalogue of past productions or acquired titles, are of vital importance for movie theaters, especially independent movie theaters. Independent movie theaters have long incorporated repertory programming – those films that were released anywhere from 2 to 100+ years prior to a current calendar year – into their regular offerings.

  While repertory programming allows contemporary audiences to access decades of cinematic art, history, and culture, these films also allow independent theaters to deepen their programmatic and cinematic education offerings, providing critical financial stability. Yet mergers at the level proposed between WBD and any of its suitors presents an existential crisis for access to repertory film programming.

  In fact, younger audiences around the world are showing up at their local cinemas for repertory films. According to AHC’s 2025 National Audience Survey, 82% of filmgoers cite ‘repertory film’ as one of their top genres. At New York’s Film at Lincoln Center “demand has increased dramatically in the past half decade, as theaters reopened after COVID-19 shutdowns. Overall was up 14 percent in 2023, powered largely by repertory showings.” At Boston’s Coolidge Corner Theater, “from 2019 to 2023, repertory programming jumped from 10 to 30 percent of the theater’s total revenue,” and prominent exhibition-focused, independent film distributors are re-releasing older titles as a way to attract new audiences.

  Combined with the precipitous decrease in new film production because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the twined Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA labor strikes of 2023, repertory film programming has become more critical than ever in maintaining the economic sustainability of independent movie theaters. Repertory programming was a vital node in the independent exhibition sectors’ ability to withstand pandemic-era closures, contributed significantly to theaters’ ability to continue as economic drivers in their communities’ post-pandemic, and remains critical to regular theatrical operations. Indeed, repertory programming has become so integral to contemporary theatrical offerings that conglomerated mainstream exhibitors like Regal, AMC, and others have begun to adopt the independent film model of incorporating repertory film into their regular offerings. Warner Bros., as one of the oldest film studios in existence, was already the home to thousands of repertory programming titles, and years of film library purchases and the eventual conglomeration that birthed WBD means the company now holds hundreds of thousands of repertory films. Control over the WBD repertory catalog and their siloing on any corporate streaming platform would irreparably damage movie theaters and undoubtedly lead to closures. For example, film titles in the Warner Brothers catalog include Casablanca, Singin’ in the Rain, The Goonies, and the Harry Potter franchise. What would it look like if your local movie theater was barred from screening Casablanca simply because it was in the studio’s short-term financial interest to do so? How does the American public benefit from such control?

Independent theaters offer audiences access to this country’s rich filmic history, creating opportunities for education, dialogue and critical discourse around the media we consume. Independent theaters serve as a lifeline between media makers and moviegoers. And independent theaters are critical for the American film industry’s economic survival.

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Art House Convergence (AHC) is a 501(c)3 arts service organization that connects, amplifies and advocates for mission-driven, community-focused independent cinemas and exhibitors within the film industry, and arts and cultural sector. We provide professional development, and capacity and network building for the independent exhibition workforce; and advocate for independent cinemas in the greater, and ever-changing, exhibition and film landscape.