The good old strategy of buying the competition strikes again. Netflix is the new Disney, and this time it won't get slowed down by a new Indiana Jones movie. This is the plot twist the world of cinema wasn’t prepared for; a real earthquake in one of the most important industries in the world.
At the end of a year where Warner Bros has had so much success at the box office, joining the Netflix family seems unnecessary for the company shareholders. First of all Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, the man who spoke of traditional cinema as being 'old-fashioned', calmed the crowds by saying publicly that they would still release every Warner movie in the cinemas. But should we trust a billion dollar company CEO?
Recently, Netflix allowed some exceptions to their policy. They have sent a fistful of films per year to the theatres, as a film needs to release there to be eligible for an Oscar. In 2025, for example, there was Frankenstein and Wake Up Dead Man, in 2023 there was Maestro. However, it is important to mention they were only released to selected theatres, such as small independent theatres, and only for two weeks before its release on the streaming platform. Therefore, it doesn't have a wide release for a large public audience, and it's only for a brief period of time.
...cinema franchises will experience financial problems.
So, if Warner Bros movies get the same treatment, cinema franchises will experience financial problems. Not to mention the fact that countries with a smaller cinema industry will never see these films on the big screen at all, since they don't have any films in these selective theatres.
Besides awards, we have also seen Netflix release films only for a one event period for box-office purposes, the latest being K-POP DEMON HUNTER which brought them a sweet 25 million dollars in one weekend. Lots of people would agree that Warner movies are just 'too good' to not get a full wide release. But God only knows what Sarandos's definition of “releasing in theatres” is. What a nightmare it would've been if One Battle After Another or Sinners didn't have a wide release. Cinemas are already going through difficult times, so if Netflix snatch them away big box offices, the belt will become even tighter.
In Warner's baggage lies the largest studio in the history of television, HBO, and their own streaming service HBO MAX. For five years, all HBO and Warner series and films have resided there, with brand new episodes of series found on the platform just a few hours after their broadcast on TV. Will it all disappear overnight? It is up to Netflix now. The two possible options are that they kill the platform to take their best content or that they keep it to create a joint offer with their own platform.
...the fusion of the two biggest could have cataclysmic consequences...
In front of an offer that joins Stranger Things with The Sopranos, the nostalgia of Disney+ and the big budget of Apple TV and Amazon Prime just can't compete. Their domination would be even more crushing at the awards ceremony. At the last Emmy Awards, they were the two most successful networks, winning fifteen of the twenty six categories, leaving the other eleven to just five studios. It's far from being the first time that a big takeover has happened in the history of TV, but the fusion of the two biggest could have cataclysmic consequences in many more sectors.
However, Netflix buying Warner Bros could actually be the best case scenario. Other offers to buy the cinematic titans came from Skydance Paramount, a company that has faced many controversies in recent months, all connected to the company's connections with the current faces of American politics. The biggest of these controversies came this past July, when talk show host Stephen Colbert got his thirty-year-old show canceled after criticisms towards the president.
Ten years ago, Netflix was the futuristic company that would shape an essential part of future cinema, but now it looks more like the greedy company that beats competition by force until they control the whole industry. It would be an understatement to say that we live in a rapidly changing world, but in this scenario evolution is smashing us at 100 miles per hour. Evolution wants to absorb the past before our eyes and obviously that scares us. It is still unsure if that deal will actually see the light of the day, but one thing’s for sure, cinema is changing fast and it is unclear which direction it is taking.