Movie theatre owners are publicly split over Paramount's proposed $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, with the industry's main lobbying body, Cinema United, at odds with its own two biggest members. Cinema United president Michael O'Leary has spent months opposing the deal, warning it could lead to fewer films and theatre closures, but AMC Theatres chief Adam Aron and Regal Cinemas chief Eduardo Acuna have both broken ranks to back the merger, undermining the group's united front.

The rift became more visible after state attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit last month seeking to block the deal: Aron wrote a Variety op-ed defending the merger's economics on the same day O'Leary issued a letter endorsing the litigation. Acuna has separately warned that delaying the deal risks "uncertainty and distraction" as the industry enjoys its best summer since the pandemic, with annual domestic revenues on track to hit $10 billion for the first time since 2019. Smaller exhibitors fear the infighting weakens their collective bargaining power, while Cinemark's Sean Gamble has yet to take an official position and O'Leary insists the group remains committed to protecting the wider exhibition community.