Netflix to Buy Warner Brothers? No, Paramount Skydance!

[domino harvey]

There’s nothing better than watching classic the Simpsons with a crowd, I’d def pay $20 to see four episodes in a row with a packed theatre audience, if Disney needs any extra cash

[Matt]

Do we know if Warner Archive has been profitable? Or is it just recouping some of the operating cost for maintaining the film library?

I vaguely remember George Feltenstein saying they had to prove to higher-ups that each project would be cost-effective. I doubt it's been profitable, but I also doubt it loses money. It generates sales for older IP that would otherwise perpetually be losing small amounts of money because of storage and preservation, and it keeps a small but devoted fanbase very happy, not small considerations.

[knives]

I do wonder what may happen to the Warner Bros. gaming arm as well. Notably every game is being sold at a massive discount on Steam right now, even before Steam's Christmas sale begins - things like the Mortal Kombat franchise. Although given that Warners had massive problems with their two biggest recent titles - Hogwart's Legacy (which was the subject of a concerted boycott campaign during the period when JK Rowling was controversial), and the extremely poorly received Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League game - they may not be too unhappy about getting out of the gaming sphere!

My thoughts went immediately to DC Comics. They finally have started putting out affordable editions of their classic comics in bulk and I don’t want that messed with.

[beamish14]

I do wonder what may happen to the Warner Bros. gaming arm as well. Notably every game is being sold at a massive discount on Steam right now, even before Steam's Christmas sale begins - things like the Mortal Kombat franchise. Although given that Warners had massive problems with their two biggest recent titles - Hogwart's Legacy (which was the subject of a concerted boycott campaign during the period when JK Rowling was controversial), and the extremely poorly received Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League game - they may not be too unhappy about getting out of the gaming sphere!

My thoughts went immediately to DC Comics. They finally have started putting out affordable editions of their classic comics in bulk and I don’t want that messed with.

My Shade the Changing Man Omnibus Volume I is very previous to me! Take the DC superheroes, just leave Vertigo alone

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

I don't see why Netflix would be any more likely to curtail DC's comic-book operations than WBD themselves. I strongly suspect the actual comic-producing parts of DC and Marvel lose money and reprints are the most profitable thing they put out. WB and Disney stay in comic books because the money they lose isn't enough to cancel out their value as IP farms (at one point Warner even classified DC as an R&D division so it wouldn't be expected to turn a profit). Given that Netflix has struggled a bit on the IP front—the Millarverse was an unmitigated flop, Zack Snyder's Netflix franchises seem to be circling the drain, and even a big hit like Stranger Things hasn't exactly demonstrated multi-generational staying power—I expect they'd leave DC as it is unless the comic-book movie/TV market completely craters. Admittedly that's not an unrealistic prospect at the moment, but WBD or Paramount would react the same way.

[hearthesilence]

I didn't know this about Sarandos and Lynch. This is nothing but a positive. Of course Sarandos will do what's best for Netflix but I think owning the Warner catalog would be a coup for him as someone who cares about movies. I wouldn't expect this to be a Disney/Fox situation. Disney was tight with their own catalog, vaulting things for years.

Sarandos was "all-in" on Unrecorded Night as well. It likely would've been made, but delays from COVID and Lynch's health problems kept that from happening up until his death. (Per that link, Lynch's producer said they were working on new ideas he had for the show up until the day he died.)

I don't want to be too optimistic because quite a few of Netflix's prestige films have yet to be released on disc, but I also have no idea what determines that. For example, it's really strange to me that The Other Side of the Wind hasn't been made available to Criterion like so many others even though it's one of their lowest-streamed films. (Joseph McBride says Criterion is actually interested in licensing it.) I can only guess there's some other factor we're not aware of because I don't really see the logic there.

[Captain Paranoia]

I wonder what this means for Studio Distribution Services? (interestingly on the topic of the Ellisons and Paramount, that's the one major studio I know of not distributed by SDS on physical media)

[FrauBlucher]

Bill Hunt's take on this...

Now, the interesting thing is that Netflix originally had little interest in buying Warner Bros, but they really didn’t want Paramount Skydance to get it. And it seems obvious that this is all about the WB catalog and the streaming business.

Right now, Disney owns their own catalog, plus 20th Century Studios/Fox, Searchlight Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Touchstone, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, etc.

Amazon owns the recent MGM catalog, plus some Orion Pictures, United Artists, etc.

Paramount owns their own catalog, plus they have some rights to Miramax titles, and they own Republic Pictures, live action DreamWorks titles, Skydance, Nickelodeon & MTV.

And Warner Bros. owns their own catalog, plus New Line, Castle Rock, Hanna-Barbera, DC Studios, Turner Entertainment, the classic MGM catalog, HBO, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, and classic films from Orion Pictures, American International Pictures, and Lorimar.

Then of course you have Sony, Lionsgate, and Universal, which each have catalog content of their own that’s not insignificant, but isn’t really relevant to this deal.

Now… Netflix works with many of these studios to license streaming content. But if Paramount were to absorb the Warner Bros. catalogs, they would almost instantly become the biggest content player in Hollywood. And they could make it very difficult or impossible, and/or more expensive, for Netflix to license that content.

So the bottom line is, I don’t think Netflix could afford to let that happen.

A lot of people have asked us today what this means for physical media. And the truth is, I don’t think we really know yet. There are already lots of people online rushing to claim that this means the end of the disc business—I think that’s premature. Certainly, very little of what’s been happening in Hollywood since about 2016 (the push to streaming, the decline of the replication business, COVID, and repeated studio mergers and acquisitions) has been good for the disc business, but that’s a topic for a future post.

I do however think that Netflix winning Warner Bros. is probably the lesser of two bad outcomes compared to Paramount Skydance buying the studio. And the reason I say that is because I know for a fact that Paramount Home Entertainment has essentially been gutted by the powers that be who prepped the way for Skydance to purchase Paramount, and the situation hasn’t gotten better since the Ellisons took over there. In fact, I see very little evidence that the Ellisons even remotely care about the physical media business. I hope I’m wrong about that, but until things change at Paramount—until we start to see a resurgence of new 4K catalog product coming out of their recent distribution deal with Alliance Entertainment—there’s just very little evidence to the contrary.

What all this means, ultimately, is that we’re going to have to wait and see And you can rest assured that I’m going to have a lot more to say about it all in the weeks to come.

[hearthesilence]

So on Friday night and today (Sunday), MoMA screened new films that were produced by Netflix. I was only there today for Cover-Up (though sadly I couldn't stick around for the Q&A) but I'm guessing the same thing happened on Friday when they showed Jay Kelly. Before the movie, they did their customary announcement thanking the series sponsor and then the company or studio that allowed MoMA to screen the movie we're about to see, and a pretty large portion of the audience erupted in loud boos (with a slightly smaller portion laughing in amusement). The guy from MoMA quickly added "wait, hold on...current events notwithstanding, we're also fortunate enough to be joined by Laura Poitras and Seymour Hersh afterwards, and for that, we should thank them," to which people did applaud, but when the Netflix logo started the film, it was greeted by a smattering boos. The film turned out to be a pretty good portrait of Hersh that also detailed - without watering it down - why he left the New York Times for what he thought were hypocritical conflicts of interest, as well as quite a bit of criticism of how the media does its duty. The fact that Netflix would produce this specific documentary was something to ponder, as was the fact that we were still seeing this film in a theater after it finished a run at the Paris and a few weeks before it opens at Film Forum. It kind of felt like the complexities of this whole controversy playing out in microcosm.

[Finch]

Paramount launches $108.4bn bid: The Guardian

[diamonds]

That Guardian article leaves out some information that's being reported elsewhere:

Paramount has launched a $108bn hostile bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery, partnering with Middle East sovereign wealth funds and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to derail Netflix’s agreed deal.

The Ellison family and RedBird Capital had committed to backstop the entire $40.7bn of equity capital required for the deal, Paramount said, adding that financing would also come from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar sovereign wealth funds as well as from Kushner’s Affinity Partners.

Per THR, to the tune of $24 billion.

[hearthesilence]

And again:

David Ellison and his father, the billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison, whose family is financially backing the deal, are both friendly with the Trump administration, which had previously indicated that it supported a Paramount purchase of WBD. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle, had even had early conversations with a senior Trump aide about what changes he might want to see at CNN.

I wonder if people angry about the Netflix deal will understand how much worse this will be if the Ellisons prevail?

[Finch]

Certainly not the mouthbreathers on the other site who seem to think somehow Paramount is going to save physical media.

[domino harvey]

I mean they also love the current administration over there so can’t say I’m surprised

[Lowry_Sam]

That Guardian article leaves out some information that's being reported elsewhere:

The Guardian article does mention the really important stuff though like the fact that

Donald Trump has praised recent changes at Paramount since its acquisition by the Ellisons, including the selection of the heterodox writer Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News. Paramount is also bringing back the Rush Hour franchise for a fourth film, reportedly at the request of Trump.

I guess all those clamoring for restoration of blackface in WB's properties, along with Gone With The Wind Part 2 will get their wishes if Paramount/The Ellisons/Donald Trump wins.

I love the use of the gaslighting adjective "heterodox" for Bari Weiss, as well as the reporter's predominant focus on Paramount/Ellison's PR statements:

In a statement, David Ellison called the Netflix deal “an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process”.

“WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” he said. “Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros Discovery board of directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.”

while barely mentioning that there maybe objections among employees, let alone any mention of possible impacts on consumers or content or even that some WB executives may have objections, leaving the impression that the predominant opposition is

Several American politicians, including US Senator Elizabeth Warren, and entertainment unions, however, had expressed strong reservations about the deal.

Because no television licenses would be transferred in a potential acquisition, the acquisition of WBD is very unlikely to be subject to the review of the Federal Communications Commission and its Trump-picked chair, Brendan Carr. But anti-trust concerns around any such deal would be reviewed by the Department of Justice.

Yeah, control over the flow of information in the hands of Trump's DOJ, that's really comforting.

The kid that wrote this though isn't fresh out of college, but has had 5 1/2 yrs at The Washington Post, so he's at least been groomed by Jeff Bezos some.

After 5.25 busy and fun years with my hometown
@washingtonpost, I am excited for a new challenge: joining The Guardian as their first U.S. media reporter. I'll be covering the industry's intersection with power in all its forms — like, you know, the stuff that happened this week.
9:23 AM · Sep 19, 2025 63.8K
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[pistolwink]

"Heterodox" is Bari Weiss's own framing of her views, which positions her conveniently as a disaffected liberal (the kind that right-wing media and gullible journalists eat up) rather than the reactionary she clearly always has been.

[Lowry_Sam]

Which is why it’s so unprofessional for someone who would like to project himself as a journalist rather than a recompiler of press releases to use it.

Bloomberg is reporting that the offers are in fact for different things. Netflix is mostly bidding on the WB catalog + a few things while Paramount’s bid is for everything, making Netflix’s bid still more attractive despite the lower price.

[Drucker]

Which is why it’s so unprofessional for someone who would like to project himself as a journalist rather than a recompiler of press releases to use it.

There is no such thing as reality in 2025. There is only marketing. There is only posting. Posting is everything.

[Matt]

This email just went out to Netflix subscribers. Seems a little premature to me.

Hi XXXX,

We recently announced that Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO. This unites our leading entertainment service with Warner Bros.’ iconic stories, bringing some of the world’s most beloved franchises like Harry Potter, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Casablanca, Game of Thrones and the DC Universe together with Stranger Things, Wednesday, Squid Game, Bridgerton and KPop Demon Hunters.

What’s changing?
Nothing is changing today. Both streaming services will continue to operate separately. We have more steps to complete before the deal is closed, including regulatory and shareholder approvals. You’ll hear from us when we have more to share. In the meantime, we hope you’ll continue to enjoy watching as much as you want, whenever you want - all on your current membership plan.

We know you might have questions. Check out our Help Center for more information or contact us at any time.
Thank you for choosing Netflix. We’re committed to bringing you more great TV shows, movies, games and live programming.

The Netflix team

[Maltic]

Ah yes the Casablanca franchise whenever I want.

[Drucker]

Can we add a question mark to the end of the thread title?

[hearthesilence]

I missed the sequel. Did Rick and Renault get it on?

[knives]

I missed the sequel. Did Rick and Renault get it on?

You joke, but there was a show.

[CSM126]

I missed the sequel. Did Rick and Renault get it on?

You joke, but there was a show.

There were TWO shows, if you can believe it. Both one season flops.

[BoltzmannBrain]

Paramount has an active home video department and they license titles generously to multiple boutiques, including small labels like Fun City Editions and Terror Vision. In the last few years Paramount has worked to clear rights for several films that have been off-limits for home video previously and it's been said that the studio's main licensing guy is great for the boutique labels to deal with.

Best thing would be if WB wasn't sold at all, but if it must be and these are the options, why would someone think that Netflix is the better buyer? The company that has zero interest for physical media (apart from agreeing to license a handful of titles to Criterion)?