Benedict Cumberbatch Joins Marvel Stars Calling on UK Government to Block 'Dangerous' Paramount-Warner Bros Merger Before It Causes a Disastrous 'TV and Cinema Calamity'

Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong person called connected the UK authorities to intervene and artifact Paramount's projected $110 cardinal Warner Bros. buyout.

The trio of Marvel stars, known for their roles arsenic Doctor Strange, Nightcrawler and Wong, person published a associated nonfiction contiguous successful UK paper The Guardian, calling connected the country's civilization caput to halt the woody successful its tracks.

Paramount launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros. pursuing involvement from Netflix — though the streamer yet exited the acquisition process, leaving lone Paramount to assertion victory. After months of wrangling, Paramount's Warner Bros. connection is present moving its mode done the regulatory process successful assorted countries. Last week, its last U.S. support deed a large roadblock owed to ineligible enactment from 12 states — prompting Paramount to deed a intermission fastener that perchance places the merchantability successful stasis for up to a year. This is contempt the woody being waved done by the Justice Department.

But this intermission could beryllium lone a impermanent hiccup, and the deal's advancement elsewhere has been acold much straightforward. Last week, the EU decided it would backmost the woody successful Europe, portion regulators successful China, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Brazil person already fixed the buyout a greenish light. This leaves conscionable 3 countries wherever the woody is inactive nether ceremonial review: Japan, India and the UK.

Now, Cumberbatch, Cumming and Wong person written to promote UK civilization caput Lisa Nandy to travel done connected caller comments that she was "minded to intervene" connected its approval. The trio began by citing concerns implicit the likelihood of occupation losses if and erstwhile the woody is completed, and pointed to assorted past examples of mergers and "consolidation" starring to redundancies.

"We person watched, with increasing alarm, what consolidation does to the breadth and extent of the enactment we produce," the actors wrote, noting that the UK movie manufacture presently supports much than 180,000 jobs, generates £6.8 cardinal successful accumulation spend, and contributes astir £12 cardinal to the country's economy.

"Independent movie acquisitions astatine the starring autarkic movie festival Sundance fell by fractional betwixt 2019 and 2025. Award-winning documentaries – films that won Oscars and topped festival juries – person struggled to find commercialized organisation due to the fact that they touched subjects the remaining fistful of buyers recovered inconvenient. Every merger of this benignant narrows the funnel done which stories tin scope audiences.

"That is precisely what makes the Paramount-WBD merger truthful dangerous," the actors continued, calling the UK's movie manufacture a "cultural practice we indispensable protect."

"Paramount proposes to swallow Warner Bros Discovery successful 1 of the largest leveraged buyouts ever attempted, loading the combined institution with an estimated $84bn successful debt," the missive continued. "To work it, executives person promised investors astir $6 cardinal successful 'synergies.' In plain English, that means redundancies, cancelled productions, less films commissioned and less risks taken.

"We person seen this before. When Discovery merged with WarnerMedia successful 2022, it shelved finished films and chopped thousands of jobs; erstwhile Skydance merged with Paramount past year, it laid disconnected astir 2,000 people. Now the aforesaid executives are making the aforesaid promise, and UK crews, producers, endowment and audiences volition wage erstwhile the measure comes due."

Beyond occupation losses, though, the actors expressed interest implicit the imaginable interaction to quality independency and impartiality they consciousness the merger could impact. Warner Bros., of course, owns CNN, which it is feared could endure nether Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison, who are large donors to the Trump administration.

"The occupation of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport goes further: to find whether the merger is successful the nationalist interest. It astir surely is not," the nonfiction stated. "In her connection to British MPs, Nandy cited the request for a capable plurality of views successful quality media and a capable plurality of individuals controlling media enterprises. She has besides highlighted the imaginable interaction connected streaming services, contented homogenisation and children's television.

"One proprietor controlling this overmuch of the news, and the truth, endangers the nationalist successful a mode nary mean consolidation does. When abstracted owners tally abstracted newsrooms, a communicative judged inconvenient by 1 tin inactive scope audiences done another. Fold those newsrooms into a azygous company, and 1 boardroom's commercialized anxieties – oregon governmental debts – find what millions of radical spot and what they ne'er larn existed."

For now, it's unclear erstwhile the Paramount-Warner Bros. woody volition close, oregon if it could inactive travel undone by the regulatory process. With astatine slightest a fewer months to spell arsenic the antitrust suit gets disconnected the ground, Paramount's combat to implicit the takeover process inactive has plentifulness of clip to tally yet — peculiarly so, if the UK launches a ceremonial review.

Image credit: Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL / AFP via Getty Images.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social