Last Friday afternoon, Netflix announced they had delivered the winning bid for the 102-year-old studio, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Comcast and Paramount Skydance were both in the mix, with the latter now attempting a hostile takeover. Both Paramount, a legacy studio founded in 1912, and Netflix, the world’s largest streamer, have reason to believe that their competitor would pose regulatory hurdles in acquiring WBD.
If Paramount Skydance prevails, two legacy studios would merge into one. If Netflix prevails, the world’s largest streamer would take over not only a legacy studio but one of its only streaming competitors, HBO Max. Both companies have been upfront about what victory would mean. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has promised to release more than thirty films theatrically if they win while Netflix has made it clear that any exclusive theatrical windows for Warner Bros. Discovery films would be radically shortened to be “more consumer-friendly” before appearing on their streamer.
It’s that fundamental conflict between streaming content and traditional studios geared toward theatrical releases that now embodies the struggle over the future of the film industry. It’s a fight that now includes not only workers in the industry but audiences who face the possible extinction of the theatrical experience.
According to Netflix’s CEO, Ted Sarandos, however, “We’re saving Hollywood.” In his view, it’s the stubborn, nostalgic creatives stuck in the past who “grew up thinking, ‘I want to make movies on a gigantic screen and have strangers watch them play in the theater for two months and people cry and sold-out shows’ . . . It’s an outdated concept.”
It’s the fundamental conflict between streaming content and traditional studios geared toward theatrical releases that now embodies the struggle over the future of the film industry.
The American studio system has certainly gone through many era-defining transformations…
Auteur: Jake Ures
