Cinemark has become the third of America's biggest cinema chains, after AMC and Regal, to back a swift resolution of the legal fight over Paramount's proposed $111 billion (£87 billion) merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, and shortly afterwards their trade body Cinema United also reversed its opposition and called for settlement talks. The shift matters because it removes what had been the exhibition industry's united front against the tie-up, leaving California attorney general Rob Bonta and the eleven other states suing to block the deal increasingly isolated as a March 2027 trial date approaches.

Cinemark's unsigned statement, unlike the direct interventions from AMC's Adam Aron and Regal's Eduardo Acuna, cited record box office momentum and called for an "expedited resolution" without naming chief executive Sean Gamble. Cinema United, led by Michael O'Leary, followed the same day with a letter urging both sides to "meet in good faith," a reversal from its earlier warnings that further studio consolidation would harm "Main Streets across this nation." The states' lawsuit, filed 13 July, argues the merged studios would control 30 percent of theatrically released $100 million-plus films; Paramount chief David Ellison has offered concessions including 30 theatrical releases a year for three years and 45-day theatrical windows before titles move to streaming.