'Long live the movies': Paramount's David Ellison makes big promises to
theater owners at CinemaCon
[April 17, 2026]
By LINDSEY BAHR
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Paramount Skydance CEO and chairman David Ellison made
big promises to movie theater owners at CinemaCon on Thursday in Las
Vegas. Ellison said he will guarantee 30 movie releases a year between
Paramount and Warner Bros., and that he is committing to a 45-day
exclusive theatrical window “starting today.”
“Long live the movies,” Ellison said.
A starry show and a commitment to theaters
His company’s pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, in a deal
valued at $111 billion, has been the source of much handwringing and
speculation in Hollywood and exhibition. But Ellison came to the
conference ready to show the exhibitors in the audience that he is
serious about his commitment to movies and theaters, with a glossy mini
movie about the studio’s past and future directed by Jon M. Chu and
narrated by Tom Cruise. The promo featured cameos by Will Smith, Mark
Wahlberg, Chris Pratt, Timothée Chalamet, John Krasinski and Teyana
Taylor and closed with sweeping music and Cruise seated atop the iconic
Paramount water tower.
“The future is paramount and the future looks pretty great from here,”
Cruise said in the video.
Ellison told the exhibitors, “I love cinema and I love film. I always
have and I always will,” and promised, “you can count on our complete
commitment.”
The studio also announced that a third “Top Gun” movie is in
development, in the script stage, with Cruise returning.
Paramount put on a big show for exhibitors with appearances by Johnny
Depp, Billie Eilish and James Cameron. They touted planned franchises
and IP like the live action “Call of Duty,” “A Quiet Place Part III” and
the fourth “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie. They also originals including the
adaptation of “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” with Daisy
Edgar-Jones, a new Damien Chazelle movie with Cillian Murphy and Daniel
Craig, and Teyana Taylor’s directorial debut, the dance movie “Get Lite.”
Depp was there to talk about starring in Ti West’s “Ebenezer: A
Christmas Carol,” a story he said he’s been obsessed with since he was a
child. Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans and Anna Faris came out for the sixth
“Scary Movie.” And Gina Prince-Bythewood and actors Thuso Mbedu and
Damson Idris also previewed the tribal action movie “Children of Blood
and Bone.”
Debate about the merger
In late February, Paramount Skydance reached a deal to acquire Warner
Bros. Discovery, which has been at the center of many discussions at the
trade show and convention about what the implications might be for the
depleted exhibition business.
No one mentioned Paramount at the over two-hour Warner Bros.
presentation on Tuesday, but several of the filmmakers who made
appearances were among the thousands who signed an open letter opposing
the merger, including Denis Villeneuve and J.J. Abrams. In fact, the
only studio other than Paramount to reference it at all was Amazon MGM,
itself the product of an $8.5 billion merger, and it was in an
irreverent promo for the “Spaceballs” sequel.
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David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, speaks during the
Paramount Pictures presentation at CinemaCon on Thursday, April 16,
2026, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
 Cameron, who co-directed Paramount’s
upcoming concert film “Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard and Soft: The
Tour (Live in 3D),” is one of the filmmakers who has said he
supports the deal and is unbothered by the prospect of a
Paramount-owned Warner Bros. In an interview with The Associated
Press last week, Cameron praised Ellison as a “natural born
storyteller” who “really cares about movies.”
“He’s the right man for the job to run a major studio, and now it
looks like he’s going to have two of them, you know, swept under his
leadership, which doesn’t bother me at all,” Cameron said.
The regulatory question
Paramount, which closed its own $8 billion merger with Skydance just
months ago, promised that it would release 15 movies in theaters in
2026. The deal awaits a shareholder vote later this month and
government regulatory approval at the state and federal level. The
U.S. Justice Department still needs to weigh in on the blockbuster
combination that could give Paramount pricing power over movies and
other offerings, potentially hurting customers.
In documents filed to the Securities and Exchange Commission,
Paramount said, “Our priority is to build a vibrant, healthy
business and industry — one that supports Hollywood and creative,
benefits consumers, encourages competition, and strengthens the
overall job market.”
They’ve also said they would look for ways to save some $6 billion
through job cuts in “duplicative operations.”
Executives at Paramount have argued that merging with Warner will
allow it to compete with bigger rivals particularly in the streaming
space and bring larger content libraries for its customers. The
102-year-old Warner Bros. has a film library that includes “Harry
Potter,” “Superman” and “Barbie.”
On Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Cory Booker held a spotlight hearing
in Washington, D.C., on the potential anticompetitive impact of the
consolidation of two of Hollywood’s big five studios into one.
Actor Mark Ruffalo, who has been one of the most outspoken critics
of the merger said, “tens of thousands of workers will be left
poorer, along with the audiences we serve.”
David Borenstein, who just won an Oscar for his documentary “Mr.
Nobody Against Putin,” noted that it could further erode access to
documentary filmmaking, “because a small number of distributors have
consolidated power and decided to feed audiences a narrow and
politically safe diet of content.” While neither Paramount Studios
nor Warner Bros. are particularly well-known for their non-fiction
releases, WBD companies CNN and HBO are.
Ellison did not attend the meeting in D.C. on Wednesday. An Ellison
spokeswoman confirmed he attended a funeral Wednesday.
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