As Paramount Merger Looms Over CinemaCon, Theater Owners Tout Success in Experimentation

The Warner Bros. presentation at CinemaCon ran a half-hour over its allotted time, but Patton Oswalt couldn’t help himself. The comedian tasked with hosting what could be the studio’s last presentation before Paramount Skydance buys it regaled the crowd of movie theater owners with stories of his days as an usher, and of his conversations with attendees about how they were trying new things like reopening closed theaters, selling crazy popcorn buckets and adding new discount days. 

“It’s like a punk rock atmosphere around here,” he exclaimed. “You’re all just out here going ‘We’re gonna roll the dice on everything! We’re not backing down!’”

Based on the conversations TheWrap had with multiple exhibitors at CinemaCon, that willingness to try new things is pretty much the only way theaters have survived the most turbulent decade in the industry’s history — one that isn’t getting calmer as pandemics and strikes give way to consolidation with the looming Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. It served as a major underlying theme at a convention buoyed by a box office set to rise from $8.8 billion in 2025 to potentially $10 billion in 2026 after a $2.2 billion start. 

“What makes me hopeful is that we as an industry are willing to do things we were never willing to do before,” said Eduardo Acuna, CEO of Regal Cinemas and Cineworld. “There was a time where we had enough films on our screens and would have missed a film like ‘Iron Lung,’” he said, referring to the self-funded and distributed film by YouTuber Markiplier, bypassing traditional byways. The film made over $20 million.

“But here we are, needing more content, so we should be trying to get all the films we can. Even repertory films like the 50th anniversary of ‘Jaws,’” he continued. “Once we would only do that on a few weekends. Now we’re doing it almost every day of the year.” 

Of course, that optimism came in the face of questions over the impact of the Paramount-Warner merger, which the major industry players tackled. Cinema United CEO Michael O’Leary acknowledged the threat of consolidation to the future of exhibition and “the entire entertainment ecosystem,” vowing to lobby against it to regulators and lawmakers as he had since Netflix first emerged as the apparent winner of the Warner bidding war this past December.

“Further concentrating marketplace power in the hands of a smaller group of distributors that dictate the terms, windows, scheduling, screen-placement of movies and access to historic film catalogs will have a real and lasting impact on Main Street and millions of movie fans around the world,” he said.

Paramount’s response during its presentation on Thursday was a dramatic montage set on the studio’s famous Melrose Lot – a lot that might have gone up for sale had Skydance not acquired the studio last year – showing famous actors and filmmakers hard at work making films in Hollywood … never mind that Hollywood is facing an exodus of workers and productions it has only just begun to claw back.

But Ellison wanted the video to send a message: Paramount was alive again, ready to make as many movies for theaters as possible.

“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” he said on stage at Caesars Palace, doubling down on his assertion that he will release 30 movies in theaters a year between Paramount and Warner Bros., and announcing a 45-day theatrical window for his movies. “People can speculate all they want, but I am standing here telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment.”

The eight exhibitors who spoke with TheWrap during CinemaCon all talked freely about their plans to keep improving their theaters’ quality to attract moviegoers and all expressed excitement about the reversal in the post-pandemic trend of shrinking theatrical windows. But when it came to the big looming issue of the Paramount-Warner merger and Cinema United’s efforts to oppose it, most who chose to comment asked to do so anonymously. 

All of them except the one who vouched for Ellison: AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron.

“I’m not even going to say ‘if’ he succeeds. I’m going to say ‘as’ he succeeds that AMC will benefit as he proves that he and his team can release the 30 movies from Warner and Paramount that he says they will make,” he told TheWrap.

Aside from Aron, though, exhibitors seemed skeptical. One exhibitor wanted to see Paramount make good on its 45-day window promise on its upcoming summer films like “Scary Movie,” pointing out that the studio released its most recent hit “Scream 7” on digital rental 32 days after its theatrical release.

“Merger or not, that was a good chance to start showing commitment to 45 days on a big film and they didn’t take it,” the exhibitor said. He also noted that he wanted to know more about Paramount distribution chief Shaun Barber’s call for more data sharing between the studio and exhibitors, as he was skeptical that Paramount would be able to properly market 30 films in a single year. 

“We’ve seen studios do bad marketing on a film when they’ve got just a dozen films. Can one studio handle that many?” he asked. “Maybe they think having more data from theaters on our audiences will help them plan things faster with AI. We need to know more.” 

The battle over Warner Bros.’ future will take months to play out, especially if state attorneys general try to challenge Paramount’s merger in the courts. But there are no attorneys general at CinemaCon or in the offices of movie theater companies. Beyond the lobbying of trade orgs like, Cinema United and Art House Convergence, there’s not much that these theaters can do about what unfolds between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. 

So they are taking a different mentality that O’Leary told TheWrap was one he wanted all CinemaCon attendees to take to heart. 

“How can we take full control of the things we can control and responsibly deal with the things that we can’t control?” O’Leary asked. 

The answer to that is, to quote a song from Hollywood’s highest grossing franchise last year, “try everything.” No theater chain can fully insulate itself from a major studio merger, but it can mitigate it by understanding their audience and their community.

Screen new films from new distributors. Answer the flood of emails from fans of YouTubers demanding to see films and online series on the big screen. Find ways to bring affordable premium formats if they can’t build an IMAX screen. Experiment with ways to make moviegoing cheaper. Experiment with new ways to market to Gen Z. Experiment with every aspect of the moviegoing experience.

Experiment or die. 

Bigger, brighter, cheaper

At the start of the year, the most optimistic of box office projections gave the marketplace a chance at reaching $10 billion for the first time since the pandemic. The year-to-date total is 19% ahead of last year, making that projection go from a possibility to a likely outcome. 

“That is the big takeaway we should have from CinemaCon,” Aron told TheWrap. “For the first time since 2019, we’re going to see some material growth in the size of the box office to a somewhat respectable level. Revenues are finally growing again, which means that operators are going to be more profitable and reinvest that increased cash back into their fleet of theaters to upgrade them.”

According to Cinema United, the top eight theater chains in North America have spent a combined $1.5 billion between September 2024 and September 2025 upgrading their theaters with better seats, projectors and sound systems as the industry tries to shed its reputation online of no longer providing an experience worth the price of admission.

At CinemaCon, companies like HDR by Barco are trying to sell theater owners who don’t have the auditorium size or budget for an IMAX screen but are trying to bring premium formats to their multiplexes. Several exhibitors told TheWrap that with revenue projections increasing thanks to more films like “The Housemaid” and “Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle” appealing to women and Gen Z, it is slowly starting to get easier to convince outside capital to invest in their theaters again. 

Then there’s the biggest obstacle keeping people from becoming frequent moviegoers: the price. More chains are experimenting with more frequent discount days, including AMC, which now cuts ticket prices in half for loyalty members on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. In Illinois, family-owned regional chain Classic Cinemas has focused on moviegoers looking for value, with screenings in the chain’s in-house premium format sold for $13 while standard formats are sold for less.

The result? Classic Cinemas CEO Chris Johnson said that his chain has managed to get back to consistent profitability quickly after the pandemic, enough to reinvest an estimated $5 million annually into theater updates with brighter projectors and matte white screens for better picture quality. 

“A few years ago, we were in Los Angeles and studios were talking about how bad the state of a lot of theaters were, and I showed them our Google reviews,” Johnson said. “We have 15 locations, the lowest one had a score of 4.5 out of 5. That score has improved since then.” 

Down in San Antonio, Rob Lehman, COO of Santikos, spent months talking with theaters about a new idea called Final Cut Feature. What if, he suggested, his chain offered walk-up tickets for films about to reach the end of their theatrical run for $5? And just to show the studios that he wasn’t just trying to get people in the door to maximize the profit margin on concessions – the true lifeblood of every theater – how about Santikos throws in a popcorn and drink combo for just $7.50 for those screenings?

“It’s just something that every theater chain should be thinking about, especially now that studios are listening to us and keeping their films off of streaming longer,” Lehman said. “How can we can provide value to the customer at every step of the way? How can we get every dollar out of a theatrical run?”

New voices

Along with improving the auditoriums, theaters are finding new partners to bring films to their screens and getting help bringing Gen Z into theaters from some unexpected places. Two of the biggest beneficiaries of the recent drought in major studio output have been Angel and Fathom Entertainment, both of which had a presence at CinemaCon this week. 

Angel, fresh off of finding success with Christian audiences through the family films “King of Kings” and “David,” came to CinemaCon’s main stage with films ranging from American history biopics like “Young Washington” and the Cold War drama “The Brink of War” to the Owen Wilson/Alan Ritchson thriller “Runner” about two men who fight to protect a liver meant for a sick child in need of a transplant from black market mobsters. 

“We’re based in the central U.S. I love A24 and Neon, but their films aren’t going to play with our audiences,” said a programmer for one regional chain who asked to remain anonymous. “Every time an Angel film comes out, no matter what it is, it is the top film at a bunch of our locations.” 

Brandon Purdie, Angel’s distribution head, said that his team has worked hard to build trust with the studio’s fans through their Angel Guild program, and commended theaters for doing the same with their audiences to get through the pandemic. He said that the trust between Angel and theater chains is at such an “all-time high” that the company has launched the Angel Cinema Network, a program designed to allow the studio to work closer with theater operators on Angel marketing campaigns. 

“These theater managers are amazing. They know what’s happening in real time with their cinemas and they can adjust it quickly,” Purdie said. “They’ll start an Angel film in one small auditorium, and then it rockets off and within one showtime, they have moved it to a bigger auditorium. That has helped us with ‘David’ and allowed both us and exhibitors to respond to the audience right away when they tell us what they want to see.”

And speaking of the audience making their voice heard, that unfolded in real time over at Fathom with its recent announcement of “The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act.” Similar to Markiplier’s “Iron Lung,” fans of the indie YouTube animated dark comedy have flooded theaters with emails asking them to bring Fathom’s screening of the final episode of the series to their locations, resulting in record presales. 

What began as a 900-screen release for a four-day limited engagement two weeks before the “Digital Circus” finale hits YouTube has now become a two-week run on 1,830 screens and counting, with “TADC” producer Glitch announcing several new countries to which the theatrical release would expand. With weeks to go before the June 5 release date, it is very possible that “TADC” could match the 3,015 screen count of “Iron Lung” even in the middle of the summer against Hollywood films like “Masters of the Universe” and “Scary Movie.” 

Like Purdie, Fathom CEO Ray Nutt, who is retiring later this year, credits the “TADC” phenomenon to theaters being more willing than ever to listen to the masses when they say what they want. He remembers three years ago when “Christmas With the Chosen,” a theatrical special based on the indie streaming series about the Gospel, seemed like a niche offering that might play in a few parts of the country and make a few million dollars. Now, “The Chosen” has become such a hit with new episodes premiering in theaters that Amazon MGM has picked up the theatrical release of the series climax: “The Chosen: Crucifixion.”

“There have been so many more producers knocking on our doors since we began as Fathom Events, and there’s so many more theaters offering more auditoriums and showtimes too,” he said. “The past few years have forced everyone to expand what they think might work on their screens, and whatever happens with the merger, that demand is going to only keep rising, I think.”

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