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As Netflix continues attempting its finishing blow to finally kill movie theaters once and for all, the fate of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) may not be as set in stone as the streaming giant wants everyone to think it is. While it is looking more likely that WBD will reject Paramount’s latest offer, there is still plenty of red tape for Netflix to get past before this deal goes through. With Netflix and Paramount being the only serious contenders, the choice of which one would be a better home for the legacy studio remains unclear.

Caught in the Net

If Netflix does acquire WBD, there are so many implications for what holds for the future of the film industry as a whole. Warner Brothers is one of the original Hollywood studios that has managed to stick around and even build itself back up after AT&T’s disastrous time with the company.

While WBD CEO David Zaslav has received plenty of criticism for his blatant anti-art business acumen, many of his decisions to keep the company financially viable have paid off. This year, WBD made box office history, with seven consecutive films making over $40 million in their opening weekends.

While obviously attractive to any major corporation obsessed with swallowing as many companies as they can, WBD has been on an upward trajectory that would have been interesting to see. Now, Netflix has the chance to either finally get into the movie theater business, or burn it all down.

Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos has seemed vehemently against the movie theater industry in the way the streamer approaches releasing its films. Netflix movies can be huge hits, but studies show that movies released in theaters first will end up being viewed even more when they finally go to a streaming service than if they were to premiere there.

Netflix has released movies this year that may have been huge hits if released theatrically, like KPop Demon Hunters or Wake Up Dead Man: a Knives Out Mystery. Netflix wants to be seen as just as legitimate a movie-watching experience as going to a cinema. Perhaps if they ever do get that Oscar for Best Picture, tides will really change.

Sarandos has stated that he is committed to keeping WBD’s release model with traditional theatrical windows, which is surprising to hear, but still a little dubious. After Amazon acquired MGM, they did not release Doug Liman’s Road House remake in theaters, even though Liman was promised a theatrical run when he signed on to make the movie for MGM prior to their acquisition by Amazon. Amazon was very bullish on theatrical releases, but dropped Road House on their streaming service instead, despite its success on the platform.

These streaming services are not very reliable already, and Netflix is the churn king. They hardly even market their content because it costs less to just dump it and hope the algorithm is kind and audiences connect with whatever new Netflix Original hits that week. While Sarandos’s latest statements are promising, they may be nothing more than an empty promise

Paranoid of the Mount

Netflix might kill the movie theater industry, but Paramount Skydance may very well kill art itself. Both of these options would ultimately be a terrible home for WBD, and while Netflix is definitely not the hero saving WBD, Paramount would signal a hellscape future where rich conservative lunatics dictate what we get to watch on TV and in cinemas.

David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance and nepo baby extraordinare, has made it very clear how willing he is to play ball to get what he wants. After the Trump administration helped smooth over the Paramount Skydance merger at the cost of $16 million and one talk show host, it became crystal clear the type of leadership Paramount Skydance currently has.

Not only are they willing to silence people on behalf of the President of the United States, but they are also willing to silence anything that might bring any potential negative light. They’ve banned 17 episodes of South Park and now own exclusive streaming rights to the show, leaving those episodes lost to the high seas. 

Paramount Skydance is committed to the theatrical model, which was never in question. They are still run by Trump lapdogs, who would do anything to stay in his favor. These are all purely greedy companies that absolutely don’t need WBD and should not be given the influence that would come from owning them.

Who Should Win?

Ultimately, this is like picking a better way to get murdered, and in both cases, the options may as well be drowning or burning alive. There’s no real winning for us here. The best we can hope for is that Sarandos stays true to what he said, and WBD will remain theatrical. Who knows what this will mean for theatrical re-releases of classic WBD films like Casablanca, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, or The Matrix? Only time will tell.

While WBD under Netflix may lead to the eventual death of cinemas, at least it won’t die as a propaganda machine for fat, ugly, stupid billionaire presidents.