Sony Pictures Entertainment’s chairman- CEO Ravi Ahuja said the company’s restoration of the historic Cinerama Dome and reopening of the adjacent 14-screen former ArcLight Hollywood complex is a great way to expand the company’s brand without “mega M&A.”
“Large scale M&A is extremely disruptive,” he told the Bank of America media conference on Wednesday. “It can set you back for years.” He didn’t specifically mention the ongoing Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger saga, but that’s very much in the air as the deal is challenged by state AGs with a March trial date and costs mounting.
SPE is focused on smaller, targeted projects like its 2024 acquisitions of the Alamo Drafthouse movie chain, which will manage the former multi-screen ArcLight with typical panache including a Jeopardy-themed bar and karaoke rooms based around Sony IP. Meanwhile, restoration work started last month on the historic Cinerama Dome with an early 2028 reopening date in mind.
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The division of Japanese giant Sony Corp. recently unveiled a $100 million investment and minority ownership in immersive entertainment company Cosm.
It did make a run at Paramount before David Ellison’s Skydance acquired Shari Redstone’s ownership stake in the company. Asked about that, Ahuja said, “We were interested in it briefly, but in the IP” with plans for PE giant Apollo to take the cable assets. “IP will always be interesting to us [but] mega M&A, large scale is not a priority … The industry is evolving and you have to position yourself for how it is gong to evolve and not drown in M&A.”
SPE, currently riding a massive box office hit in Spider-Man: Brand New Day amid a newly rejuvenated box office, is one of the few independent film and television studios, which Ahuja says has served it well. He said the television market is also picking back up” from library sales to the original scripted side. “We have more in development now than we have in years. That is the first indicator.”