Now even the unions want the Paramount-Warner Bros merger.

Well, kind of. They still want lots of conditions to protect their interest, but they are increasingly nervous that California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s lawsuit to scuttle the deal will cripple the industry and move film jobs out of California.

Two heavyweight Hollywood unions – The Directors Guild and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees – are now urging Paramount Studios owner David Ellison and California Attorney General Rob Bonta to settle the state’s antitrust lawsuit against the merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers. Together they represent 200,000 film and television workers in the U.S. and Canada.

Bonta is still claiming the merger is “illegal.”

But the unions’ letter warns: “We cannot overemphasize how damaging the current (March 2027) timeline for the trial … is to an already struggling industry,” the letter reads. “We are aware of productions that have been put on hold or canceled altogether.”

Anyone remember what we said about the antitrust holdup of the merger? Everyone loses.