ed that the combined company will release at least 30 films a year, maintaining and expanding the two companies' current output.

 This type of challenge doesn't make much sense,  said Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for Paramount, in an interview with Variety last week.  From California's standpoint, the deal is going to lead to more production and to better jobs and more jobs for talent in California and elsewhere. 

The DOJ gave its blessing to the merger in June, issuing an unusually lengthy commentary arguing that the deal will not harm competition in the theatrical, streaming and linear TV markets. Meanwhile, Hollywood unions have also expressed reservations, or outright opposition, to the deal, warning that further industry consolidation threatens thousands of jobs.

The states are expected to seek an injunction to block the transaction, which Paramount expects to close sometime after July 22.

The Oregon attorney general, Dan Rayfield, asked a court last week to pause the merger for 60 days, arguing that Paramount had stymied his investigation by failing to respond to document requests. Rayfield sought records of Paramount's lobbying of the Trump administration, suggesting that the DOJ's determination may have been the product of a  corrupt bargain.  His office withdrew the request on Friday.

The 12 states in the coalition are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington. All are represented by Democratic attorneys general.

Bonta has repeatedly stated that the transaction raises  red flags,  and warned that his office would not defer to the DOJ's position. Under the Trump administration, the DOJ Antitrust Division has backed away from several cases - including a case against Ticketmaster-Live Nation during the trial. The states have started to be more aggressive about going it alone, as when they obtained a injunction blocking the Nexstar-Tegna merger from taking effect this spring.