Actor Mark Ruffalo is vowing to continue his fight against Paramount Skydance's roughly $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, even after a federal judge cleared the final legal obstacle to the merger. U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved Paramount's settlement with 12 state attorneys general on Sept. 30, hours before Ruffalo took to X to condemn the outcome.
«This merger will stifle creativity, weaken free speech, and cost people their jobs—it is a bad deal for this country and should never have been approved,» Ruffalo wrote. «This is an incredibly disappointing outcome for the hundreds of thousands of us who stood up to block it, but it's also not the end.» He added that the grassroots movement opposing the deal «isn't going to fade away» and framed the effort as a fight against «corrupt oligarch billionaires trampling the interests of everyday people.»
The settlement, reached Sept. 21 with states led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, resolves a lawsuit the coalition filed in July to block the deal outright. Under the consent decree, the combined company must release at least 30 films in theaters annually for the first two years, then 32 per year for the following three. At least four films a year must be independent productions, and each counted film must remain in theaters for at least 45 days. Wide releases cannot reach subscription streaming for at least 90 days.
The company also must spend at least an additional $300 million annually on U.S. film production above Paramount and Warner Bros.' combined 2025 levels, and it cannot sell or close either studio's Los Angeles-area lot for at least five years. Missing the annual film quota triggers a $30 million penalty per film, split among entertainment-industry health and retirement funds, the Motion Picture & Television Fund and a National Association of Attorneys General fund. A shortfall would also force Paramount to sell its minority stake in Miramax.
Within 180 days of closing, the company must create a five-member News Editorial Independence Board of established journalists to set editorial principles for CBS News and CNN and resolve disputes over alleged violations. Colorado and Washington joined the broader settlement but declined to sign off on the editorial board terms.
Ruffalo's opposition has extended beyond Paramount CEO David Ellison to include his father, Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison, who personally guaranteed $40.4 billion to back his son's pursuit of Warner Bros. The feud escalated on Aug. 21 when Ruffalo shared a video on Instagram of Safra Catz, Oracle's executive vice chair and a Paramount board member, describing military technologies Oracle provided to Israel. Ruffalo warned those technologies could be «merged into one of the largest media conglomerates in the world.»
Paramount responded that it was «troubled when antisemitic tropes are invoked in purported service of a business dispute,» saying words like «genocide» and «apartheid» applied to a corporate transaction «cheapen the very real suffering those words are meant to describe.» Ruffalo fired back the next day, calling the accusation «appalling and fundamentally dishonest» and saying his criticism of Israeli government actions and military technology contracts was not the same as criticizing Jewish people.
Before the settlement, Ruffalo had publicly pressed Bonta not to make a deal, writing on X: «Don't you dare @AGRobBonta, do not cave.» He cited 5,670 filmmakers and more than 75,000 signatories urging the attorney general to fight the merger. Shortly after the ruling, Paramount announced that Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz will join the company Oct. 5 as co-CEO alongside David Ellison.