{"id":2188781,"date":"2025-12-06T00:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T00:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2188781"},"modified":"2025-12-06T00:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T00:36:13","slug":"welcome-to-the-big-leagues-netflix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/welcome-to-the-big-leagues-netflix\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the big leagues, Netflix"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Warner Bros. has an infamous history of being bought by other companies<\/a> and then quickly ending up back on the market after its new owners realize how difficult it is to capitalize on a legacy production studio\u2019s assets. Those challenges are part of what doomed WB\u2019s mergers with AOL and AT&T, who bought the studio in attempts to reinvent themselves. But WB\u2019s latest acquisition deal \u2014 this time with Netflix for $83 billion<\/a> \u2014 feels like it has the potential to turn out differently because of how much of a major player within the entertainment industry the streamer has become. It also signals just how far Netflix has come: in less than two decades the streamer has gone from tech upstart to subsuming one of the most storied studios in Hollywood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Assuming that the deal receives regulatory approval, Netflix will soon own the entirety of Warner Bros.\u2019 (but not <\/em>Discovery Global\u2019s) assets, which includes HBO \/ HBO Max, DC Studios, and the legacy studio\u2019s television and film production arms. This would make Netflix the corporate home to many more of the world\u2019s biggest entertainment franchises, like Game of Thrones<\/em> and Harry Potter<\/em>, and give the streamer a much larger operational footprint as a proper studio. Discovery Global \u2014 which retains ownership of networks including celebrity.land, the Discovery Channel, and TLC \u2014 is set to become an independent corporate entity by Q3 in 2026.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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This strategic bifurcation and sale of assets was obviously WBD\u2019s desired outcome when the company first announced earlier this year that it planned to split Warner Bros. and Discovery back into two units. Back then, CEO David Zaslav had not yet announced that the company was open to acquisition offers. But you could glean as much from looking at the way that WBD was struggling to turn a profit with its linear cable networks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Even though WBD managed to pay down a substantial portion of the $55 billion debt it inherited when Discovery bought WarnerMedia<\/a>, the merged company\u2019s flagging cable TV assets were a major factor in it receiving a significantly downgraded credit score<\/a> earlier this year. That debt \u2014 a holdover from AOL\u2019s disastrous merger with Time Warner<\/a> \u2014 loomed over WBD for the entirety of Zaslav\u2019s tenure as CEO.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A blend of money problems, misguided rebrands<\/a>, and multiple rounds of layoffs<\/a> left WBD in a very precarious position that made selling itself off to the highest bidder one of its only viable options to appease shareholders. Those challenges might also be difficult for Netflix to deal with, but this situation feels like it could shake out very differently for a handful of key reasons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Unlike previous mergers where Warner Bros. was gobbled up by traditional tech giants and telecoms, the new deal is coming at a time when Netflix has long since established itself as a Hollywood power player. In addition to acquiring IP that goes on to become hits, the streamer has built out a robust production infrastructure to spin up wholly original projects of its own. And with many of the platform\u2019s subscriber-generating projects like Stranger Things<\/em> and Squid Game<\/em> coming to an end, it\u2019s easy to understand why it wanted to scoop up Warner Bros.\u2019 sizable library of films and series. Netflix doesn\u2019t have the strongest track record of building its own franchises \u2014 remember Rebel Moon<\/em>? \u2014 and that\u2019s exactly what it\u2019s getting with WB.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Though Netflix feels like a better acquisition partner compared to Warner Bros.\u2019 previous owners, this is still a consolidation and these kinds of mergers always come with casualties. And it is likely that we will soon start hearing about layoffs<\/a> as Netflix begins dealing with internal redundancies created by its absorption of Warner Bros.\u2019 employees and operations. But what is much less clear is how the newly merged studio will go about releasing its new projects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2021 during the covid-19 pandemic\u2019s height, WBD\u2019s decision to debut movies on HBO Max as opposed to theaters prompted directors like Christopher Nolan to denounce the company<\/a> for becoming \u201cthe worst streaming service.\u201d Though box office numbers still haven\u2019t returned to pre-pandemic levels<\/a>, theaters have reopened, and breakout hits like Warner Bros.\u2019 A Minecraft Movie <\/em>and Superman<\/a> <\/em>features have made it clear that there is a demand to see movies on the big screen. Netflix has experimented with very <\/em>limited theatrical releases<\/a> that transparently read as plays to qualify its movies for major industry awards. But it has still primarily been a streaming company in the years since it got out of the DVD game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Unlike MGM, which was on the decline when Amazon bought it, Warner Bros. has had a very strong track record with its recent theatrical releases. Netflix has said that it \u201cexpects\u201d to keep putting Warner Bros.\u2019 movies in theaters<\/a>, but co-CEO Ted Sarandos has signaled that the company is thinking about shortening its theatrical windows<\/a> in order to \u201cmeet the audience where they are quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI\u2019d say right now, you should count on everything that is planned on going to the theater through Warner Bros. will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros. and Netflix movies will take the same strides they have,\u201d Sarandos said this week in a call with industry analysts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Netflix has also made abundantly clear<\/a> that it is open to cutting production costs by using generative AI<\/a>. The company has not mandated that its collaborators use the technology as part of their production workflows, but it is easy to imagine gen AI becoming a bigger part of the studio now that it has taken on all of the projects Warner Bros. has in development.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The more glaring concern to come out of the new merger is the way that this could impact competition between the major studios and streaming platforms. Netflix has effectively replaced Warner Bros. as one of the Big Five<\/a>, which will likely change the entertainment industry\u2019s power dynamics. But streaming customers will probably feel these shifts more directly as Netflix and its competitors settle into a new status quo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Netflix\u2019s prices could go up yet again under the auspice that the service has become more premium with Warner Bros.\u2019 offerings. It\u2019s still not clear how Netflix will handle the HBO \/ Max brands long term. The company has said that it thinks \u201cHBO and HBO Max also provide a compelling, complementary offering for consumers,\u201d but it would not be surprising to see those brands ultimately going the way of Hulu<\/a>, which has been turned into a section within Disney Plus<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It has been years since Netflix was a rowdy upstart fighting to be taken seriously. But even though the company has already cemented itself as the world\u2019s biggest TV \/ movie streamer, this new deal will take it to a different level of prominence. The Netflix \/ WBD merger will undoubtedly result in changes \u2014 some of them bad \u2014 that reverberate through the entire entertainment landscape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But as tumultuous as things will likely feel in the immediate future, it doesn\u2019t seem likely that Netflix will end up trying to sell off Warner Bros. in a couple of years. Acquisitions of this scale aren\u2019t the company\u2019s usual MO, but it has been bullish about wanting Warner Bros. since the studio went on sale. If the deal goes through, Netflix is undoubtedly in the big leagues \u2014 now it has to prove it belongs.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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