Mark Ruffalo Leads Hollywood’s ‘Revolt’ Against the Paramount-Warner Merger: Urges California’s Attorney General to Kill the Deal

Well-known actor Mark Ruffalo has warned California Attorney General Rob Bonta on the X platform: “Don’t you dare, @AGRobBonta, don’t back down” — urging him to strike down any deal that would clear the way for Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Ruffalo says thousands of filmmakers have publicly opposed the deal and more than 75,000 people have signed a petition addressed to state attorneys general. He called on supporters from the San Francisco Bay Area to protest outside Bonta’s office in Oakland, saying he had heard the attorney general was “backing down” and calling the talks a “backroom deal”.

In the background, Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general are in negotiations with Paramount CEO David Ellison over an antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking the merger; according to reports, the talks could produce a deal that would avoid a trial set for March 2027.

The “Block the Merger” coalition warns that a deal built only on unenforceable promises is “a win only for David Ellison… a loss for everyone else”, citing support from industry figures and Senator Elizabeth Warren, and demands that the merger be blocked entirely. The attack has its critics too: former Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt attacked Ruffalo on X, accusing him of ignoring ordinary film workers who are suffering.

Paramount faces a ticking clock: a $7 million-a-day “late fee” if the deal is delayed beyond September 30, and the studio has threatened to move operations out of California (Nashville, Austin and Georgia have been mentioned; economists estimate a full exit could cost Los Angeles up to 58,000 jobs).

Burimi: New York Post