David Ellison Is Promising Theater Owners Contractual Guarantees for Paramount-Warner Bros. 30-Film Annual Slate. But What if Moviegoers Don’t Care?

There’s no question that David Ellison, the doggedly ambitious CEO of Paramount Skydance, loves movies and filmmaking. In making his case for Paramount’s eye-poppingly pricey megadeal to merge with Warner Bros., he has repeatedly pledged that the combined company will release a lot more movies — to the tune of at least 30 titles per…