Jane Fonda Spoofs Nicole Kidman’s AMC Ad After WB Merger Shock - “Somehow Corporate Greed Feels Good In A Place Like This”
Heartbreak does not feel good in a place like this, and apparently neither do mega mergers. As the entertainment world tries to wrap its head around Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount’s hostile counter offer, Jane Fonda has entered the chat with a sharp and funny protest.
The legendary actress teamed up with comedy troupe The Groundlings to spoof Nicole Kidman’s iconic AMC Theatres promo, using the pop culture moment to warn about what she sees as a dangerous consolidation of Hollywood power.
Fonda strolls into an empty theater and kicks things off with a familiar cadence. “We come to this place for mergers,” she says, echoing Kidman’s dramatic opener. “We stream to self-silence, to censor, to slop. Where content is chosen by the best billionaires we have.”
The spoof twists the ad’s comforting tone into something warped and corporate, pointing out how the industry is slipping further into monopoly territory.
Rather than looking up in wonder at “dazzling images on a huge silver screen,” she pokes fun at the whole thing, and delivers the line with mock sincerity as she gazes at her phone. She marvels at “dazzling focus-grouped, pre-digested content that lets your brain not do too much thinky-thinky.”
The sarcasm heightens as she continues. “Somehow corporate greed feels good in a place like this. Somehow mergers feel good in a place like this.” The bit takes a turn when an employee interrupts her moment. “Ma’am, excuse me, ma’am. What are you doing? You gotta go. We’re about to knock this whole place down in five minutes to make a data center, so let’s go. Come on.”
Alongside the video, Fonda explained why she felt she needed to speak up. “Regardless of which company ends up acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery or its parts, the resulting impact is clear: Consolidation at this scale would be catastrophic for an industry built on free expression, for the creative workers who power it, and for consumers who depend on a free, independent media ecosystem to understand the world.
“It will mean fewer jobs, fewer creative risks, fewer news sources and far less diversity in the stories Americans get to hear. Consolidation is even scarier in the Trump era because the administration is comfortable using its merger review power to extract political concessions that put our Freedom of Speech at risk.”
This whole thing started when Netflix announced its intent to buy WBD for $82.7 billion, valuing shares at nearly 28 dollars each. Paramount quickly jumped in with a $30 per share cash offer that escalated the situation into a full-scale showdown.
Fonda’s parody might be playful, but Hollywood is staring down a future shaped by a handful of corporations and the people who depend on movies, TV and media for their livelihoods are bracing for whatever comes next.