Paramount will need to release way more movies to make this merger work
Paramount will need to release way more movies to make this merger work
派拉蒙需要发行更多电影才能让这次合并行之有效
Paramount says it will release more films after merging with Warner Bros., but that promise may be difficult to keep. 派拉蒙表示，在与华纳兄弟合并后将发行更多电影，但这一承诺可能难以兑现。
Now that Paramount has reached a settlement with the 12 states that were suing to block its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), the studio is even closer to becoming one of the world’s biggest production houses. In addition to spending at least $300 million more on film and TV projects produced in the US, Paramount says that it will release a minimum of 30 movies annually after it absorbs WBD. On paper, these goals make it sound like Paramount is trying to ensure that the entertainment industry won’t be harmed by its WBD acquisition. But when you look at the studios’ recent output, it seems very much like Paramount CEO David Ellison is making promises to the public that he might not be able to keep. 随着派拉蒙与此前起诉阻止其与华纳兄弟探索（WBD）进行 1100 亿美元合并的 12 个州达成和解，这家制片厂距离成为全球最大的制作公司之一又近了一步。除了承诺在美国本土制作的影视项目上额外投入至少 3 亿美元外，派拉蒙还表示，在吸收 WBD 后，每年将至少发行 30 部电影。从纸面上看，这些目标似乎表明派拉蒙正试图确保娱乐行业不会因其收购 WBD 而受到损害。但当你审视这两家公司近期的产量时，派拉蒙首席执行官大卫·埃里森（David Ellison）似乎是在向公众做出他可能无法兑现的承诺。
In a statement about the settlement, California Attorney General Rob Bonta stressed that the settlement was designed to maintain consistent film output and domestic production while “protecting the livelihoods of workers above and below the line.” (Of course, any redundancies caused by a merger of this scale will likely lead to layoffs, which makes Bonta’s claim that the settlement “protects workers, jobs, and Hollywood” questionable in the first place.) In a statement of their own, Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) president Sean Astin and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland thanked Bonta and noted that the settlement represents “the lowest standards that our employers must meet.” 在关于此次和解的声明中，加州总检察长罗伯·邦塔（Rob Bonta）强调，该和解旨在保持稳定的电影产量和国内制作，同时“保护一线和幕后工作人员的生计”。（当然，如此规模的合并所带来的任何冗余很可能会导致裁员，这使得邦塔关于和解协议“保护了工人、就业和好莱坞”的说法从一开始就值得怀疑。）美国演员工会-美国电视和广播艺术家联合会（SAG-AFTRA）主席肖恩·阿斯汀（Sean Astin）和首席谈判代表邓肯·克拉布特里-爱尔兰（Duncan Crabtree-Ireland）在他们自己的声明中感谢了邦塔，并指出该和解协议代表了“雇主必须达到的最低标准”。
Though the acquisition — which has not yet officially been finalized — would permanently fuse Paramount and WBD, the settlement only requires the newly merged company to adhere to a few rules for just five years. In the first two years, Paramount/WBD has to either put out 30 films annually or pay $30 million per film into healthcare and retirement funds managed by Hollywood’s biggest unions. During the following three years, the merged studio would need to release 32 films annually, and if it fails to meet any of these requirements during this five-year period, it will be forced to sell off its 49 percent stake in Miramax Studios to one of its competitors. 尽管此次收购（尚未正式完成）将永久合并派拉蒙和 WBD，但和解协议仅要求新合并的公司在五年内遵守几项规则。在最初的两年里，派拉蒙/WBD 必须每年发行 30 部电影，否则每少一部电影需向好莱坞各大工会管理的医疗和退休基金支付 3000 万美元。在接下来的三年里，合并后的制片厂每年需要发行 32 部电影；如果在这五年期间未能满足这些要求，它将被迫将其在米拉麦克斯影业（Miramax Studios）的 49% 股份出售给竞争对手。
In terms of overall output, these proposed goals would be a step up for both Paramount and WBD as separate corporate entities. Over the past six years (including projects slated to debut later in 2026), Paramount has released an average of 15 films annually while WBD has averaged 17. Assuming that the newly merged studio will stick to Paramount and WBD’s previously announced release slates for 2027 and 2028, it would need to put more than a few new projects on the board in order to avoid multimillion dollar penalties. But that probably isn’t all that much of a concern to Paramount because the settlement doesn’t require the new company to produce the projects necessary to hit its annual movie quota. 就总产量而言，这些拟议的目标对于作为独立企业实体的派拉蒙和 WBD 来说都是一个提升。在过去六年里（包括计划于 2026 年晚些时候上映的项目），派拉蒙平均每年发行 15 部电影，而 WBD 平均为 17 部。假设新合并的制片厂将坚持派拉蒙和 WBD 此前公布的 2027 年和 2028 年发行计划，它需要增加不少新项目，以避免数百万美元的罚款。但这可能并不是派拉蒙最担心的问题，因为和解协议并不要求新公司必须亲自制作这些项目来达到年度电影配额。
Paramount/WBD could fulfill its obligations by distributing films that it acquires from other production houses. These films would carry the Paramount/WBD branding, but they would be the products of labor carried out by teams with no direct connection to the studio. Paramount/WBD could also flood the zone with completely new, original films it greenlights and finances itself. But many of those movies could feel less ambitious because the settlement only requires that 20 percent of them have production budgets over $50 million. 派拉蒙/WBD 可以通过发行从其他制片公司收购的电影来履行其义务。这些电影将带有派拉蒙/WBD 的品牌，但它们实际上是由与该制片厂没有直接联系的团队制作的。派拉蒙/WBD 也可以通过自行批准和投资全新的原创电影来填补空缺。但其中许多电影可能会显得缺乏雄心，因为和解协议仅要求其中 20% 的电影制作预算超过 5000 万美元。
Paramount appears to have convinced Bonta and his fellow attorneys general that absorbing WBD will give it the ability to basically double its usual output. But that logic presumes every single aspect of both studios’ production pipelines will continue to operate normally once Paramount and WBD become one. Though Paramount/WBD could ramp internal production up, what feels much more likely to happen is the studio doing the bare minimum to abide by the settlement’s terms. Everything about this settlement makes it seem like Ellison is playing a long game, and after those guardrails disappear in five years, Paramount/WBD will be in an even stronger position to shape the broader entertainment landscape. 派拉蒙似乎已经说服了邦塔和其他总检察长，认为吸收 WBD 将使其有能力将其通常的产量翻一番。但这种逻辑假设在派拉蒙和 WBD 合二为一后，两家制片厂生产流程的每一个环节都将继续正常运作。虽然派拉蒙/WBD 可以提高内部产量，但更有可能发生的情况是，该制片厂只会做最低限度的工作以遵守和解条款。关于这次和解的一切都表明，埃里森正在下一盘大棋，五年后当这些限制措施消失时，派拉蒙/WBD 将处于更有利的地位来塑造更广阔的娱乐格局。