Time Network News On Monday, the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Department of the U.S. Department of Justice, Markan Dreheem, stated in a speech to the American Bar Association that the antitrust department is working to terminate the Paramount Act ( Or called the "Paramount Case").
The "Paramount Case" is an anti-monopoly law of the US Department of Justice against the film industry. In May 1948, the US Supreme Court ruled on the "Paramount Case" based on the antitrust law and ruled that the vertical monopoly of major studios was illegal. , Requiring the production company to abandon the business of film distribution and cinema screening. After
's ruling, Paramount Pictures gradually took out its cinema chains as a company focused on distribution and production, and could not own cinema chains. Other Hollywood companies also want to spin off their theater business. The Paramount Case has completely changed the ecology of the Hollywood film industry.
"Paramount Case" not only allowed the film company to divest the theater business, but also terminated the film sales method of "group booking" at that time. At that time, the film company usually packaged and sold multiple movies to other theaters, and large and small movies were sold together. This was unilaterally beneficial to the film company, so the packaging and selling method was banned at the time.
Judging from the situation at the time, the "Paramount Case" did indeed lead the North American film market towards a healthy development path. Major film companies could not be single-minded, nor could they rely on the advantages of theater chains to overwhelm other competitors.
However, the "Paramount Case" that has been implemented for 71 years does not seem to be suitable for today's market environment. In this speech, the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Department of the U.S. Department of Justice, Markan Dreheem, repeatedly quoted Martin Scorsese’s long article on Marvel, saying that the film ecosystem has changed. It is very difficult for companies to collude horizontally with theaters.
At the same time, Markan Dreheem pointed out that the streaming media platform has brought huge changes to the film industry. "Paramount Case" has not adapted to today's public interests, so changes must be made.
director Martin Scorsese wrote in a recent long article about Marvel’s remarks: “Nowadays, there are some people in the film industry who are completely indifferent to artistic issues, contemptuous of film history, and feel that it is their own. The possessions of —— form a very destructive mixture. Unfortunately, the current situation is that we have two separate fields, one is global audiovisual entertainment, and the other is cinema. There will still be times when they overlap, but this situation is becoming less and less. I am worried that the one with economic dominance will make the other side more marginalized and even belittle their existence.”
The Ramon case was loosened in the era of US President Reagan in the last century. In a newsletter on February 4, 1985, the Department of Justice publicly stated that since the industrial environment has long been different from the past, they may no longer implement it. Paramount Act. At the same time, they encouraged the big studios to regain the opportunity to get involved in the screening business through complaints-as long as the big studios can win the lawsuit.
In early 1986, TriStar Pictures acquired Loew's, and at the same time applied to completely lift the restrictions imposed on Loew's by the court in 1981 (actually as a new company, TriStar Pictures has never been subject to the Paramount Act). The Reagan administration fully supported the merger. In August of the same year, Warner Bros., one of the former defendants in the "Paramount case", applied to the court to completely lift the restraint of the Paramount case. Although there were some twists and turns, it was finally approved. From then on, the Paramount Act was nothing more than nothing. Some insiders pointed out that the impact of the "Paramount Case" is not clearly seen at present. In fact, after 71 years of survival, the six major Hollywood companies have adapted to the mode of not controlling the theaters. Now they have screens in the United States. Half is controlled by the top three exhibitors: AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., Regal Entertainment Group and Cinemark Holdings Inc.. How
let Disney, Paramount, Warner and other Hollywood film companies break the market controlled by the three major operators is also a question that needs to be wait-and-see. The latest development of
is that within a few hours after the US Department of Justice announced that it would terminate the "Paramount case," the stock prices of AMC, Cinemark and IMAX all skyrocketed in after-hours trading. The American film industry seems to beA change is brewing.
