When it comes to Paramount Pictures’ pending takeover of Warner Bros. , the shouts from those with pitchforks — including exhibitors, filmmakers and lawmakers — are loud: The monopoly of it all, the zany promise of some 30 movies annually , the anxiety that the new merger becomes Disney-Fox, the mass elimination of jobs and so on.

Many forget that the debt-ridden Warner Bros. Discovery was in need of a hero to fly in and save the day, much like Tom Cruise’s Maverick from Paramount Skydance’s all-time top-grossing $1.5 billion movie Top Gun: Maverick . WBD was bound to be bought. Enter David Ellison .

In February, he snatched Paramount from the jaws of Netflix with a $31-per-share all-cash bid, amid the streamer’s questionable promises for theatrical.…