December 5, 2025, was “a very sad day for the whole industry,” bemoaned Hollywood analyst Luiz Fernando. He couldn’t have been more correct.
It was the outcome feared by those who understood the fragility of the movie ecosystem: Netflix winning the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Just as the studio was finally enjoying its brightest run at the box office after years of restructuring, the future now looks gloomier than ever.
A month after hiring Moelis & Co.—the same advisory firm that guided Skydance’s successful move for Paramount Global—to explore a possible offer, Netflix announced its successful acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion.
At face value, it’s nothing more than Netflix casting its nets wide over every possible revenue stream the film IP ecosystem offers—theatrical releases, digital sales/rentals, physical media, licensing to others, and streaming on its own platform—since the company truly controlled only one of those. CEO Ted Sarandos had previously chipped investors in on the ambition when he tooted the company’s stance on acquisition: it would only do so when the scale was right and when it deepened Netflix’s grip on entertainment.
Buying Warner Bros.’ studio operations immediately gives Netflix access to some of Hollywood’s most bankable worlds, including Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and, of course, the DC Universe (DCU). But there’s a more sinister intent underneath: the potential death of theatres.
Current theatre-going culture poses a threat to Netflix’s ambition of total streaming dominance—a dream nurtured to adulthood in 2020, when the COVID outbreak offered a glimpse of that future. Back then, while major studios crumbled under social distancing restrictions in cinemas, Netflix laughed all the way to the bank as audiences were forced indoors, turning streaming into almost the exclusive way to consume film content. One company’s poison became another’s meal.
Yes, theatres returned, but the psychology didn’t. Most studios now dump films to streaming after about 45 days. Meanwhile, Netflix, despite operating largely in only one revenue lane, has been out-earning what traditional studios collectively make at the box office on a year-round basis since the pandemic era.
Now, Netflix wants a bigger slice of the pie, and it’s going with the simple but no less potent strategy of eliminating the competition. Acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery wouldn’t just sweep a major studio from Hollywood’s competitive board—and with it, roughly twenty big releases a year—it would also be a brutally efficient economic move for Netflix.
The streamer currently spends billions licensing Warner titles to produce many of its most successful originals, including Running Point, You, and Maid. That cost disappears once Netflix owns Warner Bros. outright. Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ cultural staple IPs, along with HBO and HBO Max’s 100 million subscribers, would be all Netflix’s for the taking.
In simpler terms, Netflix would go from renting content to owning it, preventing rivals like Amazon Prime and Disney+ from renting the same IP.
This is shaping up to be an unprecedented control, effectively handing the global streaming giant the role of rule maker in Hollywood. Fewer competing services means millions of subscribers are likely to stay longer, enjoying their favorite WB IP shows, and subscription prices could stabilize, or even drop slightly.
Even today, cinemas are fighting to stay afloat, largely because the number of guaranteed blockbuster releases each year has shrunk. Think a 45-day theatrical window is short? Imagine three weeks or less becoming the norm, tightening the noose around the heart of the exhibition business. It’s good-old-fashioned capitalism at play here; a “red alert,” as one independent theatre owner told The Wrap.
After Disney’s 2019 takeover of 20th Century Fox, which saw the latter’s annual releases drop from at least a dozen films a year to barely five, the lesson should have been obvious. Yet, it seems lost on the few (if any) celebrating Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. To keep cinemas alive, we need more studios, not fewer.
Fernando’s only hope is for “regulators to step up and shut down this catastrophic machination.” Let’s hope that materializes.