{"id":9149,"date":"2026-07-18T02:24:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9149"},"modified":"2026-07-18T02:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T21:24:39","slug":"is-obsession-a-blockbuster-paramount-state-ag-lawyers-spar-at-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=9149","title":{"rendered":"Is \u2018Obsession\u2019 A Blockbuster? Paramount, State AG Lawyers Spar At Hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<em>Obsession<\/em> and <em>F1 <\/em>were front and center as lawyers representing Paramount on one side, and a dozen State Attorneys General on the other, clashed at a Friday hearing over what determines a blockbuster and how quickly the AG\u2019s antitrust challenge to Par\u2019s merger wth Warner Bros. Discovery should be moved along. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tJeffrey Kessler on behalf of Paramount requested Judge Araceli Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn of the Northern District of California dispense with a temporary restraining order and promised would not close the deal if she promised to rule on a preliminary injunction by early September. That could potentially avert \u201cvery severe harm\u201d to Paramount from a so-called ticking fee \u2013 addition payouts by Par to WBD shareholders staring Oct. 1 if the deal has not been finalized.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe AGs attorney James Weingarten called it \u201cunprecedented and unfair\u201d for Par to propose a timeline \u201cin order to help them save a payment that they agreed to make.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe AGs led by California\u2019s Rob Bonta are seeking a TRO or preliminary injunction. Judge Mart\u00ednez-Olgu\u00edn said at the close of the hearing in an Oakland County courtroom that <a href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/07\/paramount-warner-bros-discovery-merger-lawsuit-1236996841\/\">she would issue a written ruling before July 22<\/a>. That\u2019s the date of an anticipated greenlight by EU antitrust authorities and the earliest the merger could theoretically close.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe AGs\u2019 suit focused on three markets \u2013 blockbuster films, wide release movies, and cable networks \u2014 where it claims the combined company\u2019s large share would undermine competition and harm consumers, making the deal illegal under antitrust law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe AGs argue a blockbuster is something only the five biggest Hollywood studios have the financial chops to produce, market and distribute on a regular basis. Going from five to four majors would clearly disadvantage theater owners, who depend on those films, and ultimately lead to higher ticket prices for consumers, Weingarten said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tKessler reiterated Paramount\u2019s argument that the entertainment industry is changing and it makes no sense to look just at the share of the big five. He noted the massive box office for YouTube star Curry Barker\u2019s <em>Obsession<\/em>, made for $750k, which has grossed close to $430 million worldwide, calling that a \u201creal world fact\u201d and \u201cundisputed economic evidence\u201d that times have changed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tWeingarten dismissed the <em>Obsession<\/em> argument as irrelevant. \u201cI\u2019m not saying no one can have a super hit or a breakout, but there are five majors that make blockbusters consistently.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t<em>Obsession <\/em>was released by Focus Features, the independent film arm of Universal Studios.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tParamount also notes competition from A24, Neon and streamers who have entered the theatrical space. \u201cWe had Amazon do <em>F1<\/em> last year, which was a dramatic success,\u201d Kessler said, before correcting himself to note that it was an Apple film. \u201cSo Apple does not exist as a competitor even though they have shown in the real world that they have done that, and will probably continue to do that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tWeingarten gleefully shot back that Apple had indeed made a \u201csuccessful big movie, but it was distributed by Warner Bros.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cApple makes cell phones, not movies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tAmazon has committed to release 15 films a year theatrically, Kessler noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tOn the ticking fee, the Ellisons, Paramount\u2019s controlling shareholders, agreed to pay 25 cents cash per share per quarter (about $7.2 million a day or $650 million every three months) for each day the merger is not closed starting Oct. 1. It was a sweetener to convince Warner\u2019s board of directors to accept their $110 billion offer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tBut that\u2019s no reason \u201cto short circuit the process in an unprecedented way,\u201d Weingarten insisted. \u201cYou need to hear from competitors and customers. Those are the people tell the court what really goes on in the marketplace, so we need a reasonable schedule\u201d in keeping with other cases of magnitude. He noted that Paramount itself has called the merger \u201cindustry transforming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know when in August we are supposed to talk to those people \u2026 The orderly course is a TRO. Having two experts in a food fight in a month will just waste everybody\u2019s time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tKessler shot back that the lawsuit led by California State Attorney General Rob Bonta could have been filed \u201ca month ago, or six weeks ago\u201d so it\u2019s the plaintiffs who \u201ccreated the emergency.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Obsession and F1 were front and center as lawyers representing Paramount on one side, and a dozen State Attorneys General on the other, clashed at a Friday hearing over what determines a blockbuster and how quickly the AG\u2019s antitrust challenge to Par\u2019s merger wth Warner Bros. Discovery should be moved along. Jeffrey Kessler on behalf&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/MCDOBSE_UC005-e1780843255385.jpg?w=1024","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}