Former Disney producer and home distribution expert Bill Mechanic published a scathing reprisal on Deadline against how studios like Paramount are being destroyed through absorption. According to him, these seemingly careless acts indicate studio heads’ lack of consideration for film and filmmaking.

He was inspired to write this editorial after the news about Paramount possibly getting absorbed by Warner Bros Discovery broke out. Mechanic proclaimed that this studio absorption indicates how single studios are viewed through a multi-corporational lens. Instead of respecting these places for their history in cinema, Mechanic believes that moves like this show how these corporations are more interested in money and “don’t care about diversity or communal experience…they have about as much vision as Mr. Magoo (if he’s not a forgotten reference).” From the constant layoffs to shelving finished films for alleged tax returns, Mechanic compared the situation to how the then-new MLB analytic team behaved: “book-smart but street-dumb.”

Mechanic noted that the constant chase for content creation to compete with other streaming platforms has ironically damaged their credibility as a business. Mechanic believes that streaming services are good tools to help adapt to an increasingly digital world, but studios are not considering what audiences are interested in. While most franchise films have been doing poorly lately, independent films have been attracting more audiences on streaming. “Every time something original breaks through, it’s because the talent is pushing it, not the studio,” Mechanic stated, bringing up Barbenheimer as a prime example of successful, passionate, and original films. With almost every movie in theaters being the same genre and story with different coats of paint, Mechanic noted that audiences are getting burnt out from generic superheroes and animated features.

While he holds out hope that Skydance’s (which he claims shows more passion for cinema) additional offer to acquire Paramount will help maintain filmmaking integrity, he believes that studios must catch up with what audiences want outside of billion-dollar budgets and earnings. Instead, they must focus on properly making and marketing features “in the cluttered entertainment world.” According to Mechanic, focusing solely on growth could potentially destroy the industry. “Big often leads to smugness, ignoring what the public wants; even it doesn’t know what it wants until it sees it. Big often leads to manufacturing and selling what’s sold before, not the next thing. Big can also lead to a bureaucratic miasma stifling innovation. Sound like our business?”