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Will Biden Block the Sony-Alamo Deal?

Inspecting the antitrust tea leaves surrounding the recently consummated Sony-Alamo Drafthouse deal. Are studio-owned theaters the future of the theatrical business, or is this arrangement merely a blip on the radar as we wade into an era of major regulatory shake-ups in Hollywood?

joe biden Merrick Garland
Right now, as Sony acquires Alamo, the notion of a major regulatory shake-up—like dismantling Disney+—feels like a galaxy far, far away. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Eriq Gardner
June 19, 2024

The news that Sony Pictures is acquiring Alamo Drafthouse predictably led to plenty of hot takes and hand-wringing regarding how Sony was allowed to buy up the boutique movie theater chain. Yes, there used to be restrictions on how studios package movies for theaters—the so-called Paramount Consent Decrees, which resulted from a 1948 ruling that busted up the Hollywood studio system by forcing studios to sell their movie theaters. What the decrees didn’t do, contrary to the conventional wisdom around the Sony-Alamo deal, was ban the studios from ever owning movie theaters. Nevertheless, most coverage of the Alamo acquisition breezily asserted that Sony’s deal was only made possible by the lifting of the supposed ban in 2020.