We continue to offer a free 2-week trial of WrapPRO. If you’ve been wanting to check out our full coverage, now’s the time.Greetings!The theater industry has been calling for Hollywood to produce more movies as it struggles to return to its pre-2020 levels. Instead, it's facing the prospect of more consolidation and even fewer films. Whether it is Paramount, Netflix, Comcast or another buyer, the prospective purchase of Warner Bros. by another major media company represents a "red alert" crisis an industry that has never quite come back from the subsequent blows of a pandemic and two strikes. Theater owners have largely been silent due to the power of the media giants, but multiple executives talked to our Jeremy Fuster, expressing grave concern about Warner Bros. getting sold, with one calling it "a red alert" and expressed the need to call out any deal. The stakes for sky high, and theater owners could pay a steep price for staying silent. As such, Cinema United, the trade organization that serves as the industry's primary lobbying voice in the U.S., is preparing a response, which could include everything from pursuing antitrust legal action to allying with global exhibitors who would also feel the impact of consolidation. For anyone doubting whether Warner Bros. would be sold, last week saw a flurry of activity. Netflix hired an investment bank to advise on a potential bid, while Comcast President Mike Cavanagh signaled he was open to looking at its streaming and studio business, even if the bar for a deal remained “very high.” Paramount isn't going away either. This week's busy week of earnings will include Warner Bros. Discovery, so all ears will be on how CEO David Zaslav keeps drumming up the interest for a bidding war. Roger Cheng 
So what can the theater owners actually do?... 
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