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Warner Bros & Universal Bosses Say No Movie Theater Buyouts In The Works, But “We’re Rooting For Them”
Dade Hayes Finance EditorDonna Langley, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, and Ann Sarnoff, chair and CEO of Warner Bros had the same reaction Thursday when asked if their companies had any interest in buying movie theaters.They laughed.“We have no plans to do that currently,” Langley said, appearing with Sarnoff and CBS CEO George Cheeks on a Milken Institute Global Conference virtual panel about COVID-19’s impact on Hollywood. “We have no plans either,” Sarnoff said with a light chuckle.Especially with the 1948 Paramount decree now abolished and major theater circuits on the brink of bankruptcy, the scenario of studios taking a stake in exhibition, whose stocks have plunged, is frequently floated.
