Paramount Exodus Would Devastate California Economy, Projections Say

Projections indicate that a Paramount exodus would severely hurt California’s economy to the tune of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs if movie studio head David Ellison made good on his threat to relocate AG Bonta’s lawsuit halts the Warner Bros. acquisition.

Conducted by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, the study found that California would lose roughly 28,990 to 57,980 full-time jobs statewide across various industries if Paramount relocated to a state like Tennessee, with revenue losses estimated between $10.6 billion and $21.2 billion annually.

“It should be emphasized that these estimated job losses include direct, indirect and induced jobs, capturing the ripple effects through Paramount’s supply chains in California as well as the economic activity of household spending,” the study said. “Consequently, the job losses pertain to all California industries rather than solely to motion picture and television production.”

The study also found that Paramount could potentially create a total of between 1,020 and 2,760 jobs in California across all industries and between $377.7 million and $1.01 billion if it acquired Warner Bros. and followed through on its pledge to release 30 films in theaters per year, per TheWrap:

The study comes with several caveats, including that any commitments that could come out of a potential settlement with the state AGs suing to block the merger might change the data. However, as-is the study says its analysis “indicates that Paramount’s post-merger production commitments could produce large economic benefits to California’s economy. It also shows that the best case scenario for relocation poses economic costs of a similar magnitude.”

Despite the current California lawsuit from AG Rob Bonta in opposition to the merger along with other industry groups, especially the WGA, several Hollywood insiders have backed the merger, including James Cameron and Tom Cruise.

“I think it’s awesome,” Cruise said. “You know, here’s the thing. They’re going to deliver 30 movies. It’s a community to me. It’s not an industry. The people in these studios are not just people in the studios. They’re my family. I know we’re going to get those 30 movies. I want us all to come together as a community to help make those 30 movies. It’s not just going to be, you know, Paramount doing it. Everyone’s going to need all the help of every artist to be able to do it.”

Cruise, who worked with Paramount on the smash hit Top Gun: Maverick, said that the 30 movies released could easily become 40 movies, which would empower artists and directors to make the “films that they want.”