Actors Urge UK to Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong authored an op-ed in *The Guardian* urging the United Kingdom to prevent the $111 billion Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) merger. The trio cites their own experience working with British crews and frames the issue as a public-interest matter.

Hollywood Reporter

The actors point to the sector’s economic weight: roughly 180,000 jobs are supported by UK film and TV production, with a £6.8 billion spend reported for the most recent year. They note that independent-film acquisitions at the Sundance festival have fallen by half between 2019 and 2025, suggesting a narrowing pipeline for diverse stories. The merger would give a single commercial owner control over both production and major news archives, including CNN International and the CBS news library, which together contain more than 4.25 million videos and images spanning nearly fifty years.

Hollywood Reporter

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who remains in post after a cabinet reshuffle, has said she is “minded to intervene” in the transaction, positioning the UK as one of two fronts in the global fight against the merger. In the United States, a coalition of twelve states led by California has sued to block the deal, warning of higher prices and fewer films.

Hollywood Reporter

The actors warn that the merger could trigger redundancies, cancelled productions, and reduced risk-taking, echoing outcomes from the 2022 Discovery-WarnerMedia merger and the 2023 Skydance-Paramount deal, which together resulted in thousands of layoffs. They allege that Paramount’s chief executive told former President Donald Trump he would make “sweeping changes” to CNN if the merger proceeded, raising concerns about editorial independence. The trio concludes that allowing a single owner to control both content creation and historic news archives would let commercial anxieties dictate what millions see and learn.

Hollywood Reporter