Reuters reported yesterday that California’s attorney General Rob Bonta is leading a coalition of state attorneys general to block Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros.

States expected to join the lawsuit include New York, Oregon, and several others. The Europeans are now objecting too. Who’s next? Bugs Bunny?

As our soon-to-be-released study on this merger notes: What makes this lawsuit absurd is that there may be no industry in American history that has more cutthroat competition than moviemaking and entertainment. Cable TV is in rapid decline as yesterday’s technology, with most young people getting TV and video on their cellphones or streaming services. As we’ve also reported, the 20th century big Hollywood studios are slashing their workforces as swarms of independent movie producers are making films in their basements or garages or in abandoned warehouses. Protecting Hollywood studios is like protecting rotary phones.

Here’s one sneak preview chart from our forthcoming study on the merger, which estimates $20 billion of economic gain from the merger.

Does this look like an industry that is being monopolized?

We had hoped that the antitrust lawyers would have learned their lesson after they blocked the Spirit-Jet Blue merger, which ended with Spirit going bankrupt and thousands of American workers losing their jobs.