“This potential transaction, if it were to materialize, would raise serious competition questions — perhaps more so than any transaction I’ve seen in about a decade,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said in a post on X Wednesday. “When Netflix has real competition, viewers and artists win.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., meanwhile, blasted the deal as “an anti-monopoly nightmare.”
Netflix was not the only suitor in the auction. Warner Bros. Discovery received bids from Skydance and Comcast, which control the Paramount and Universal film studios, respectively.
Skydance is led by David Ellison, the son of Oracle magnate Larry Ellison, a close ally of President Donald Trump. (Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Netflix’s announcement.
But it’s not just Washington. Hollywood’s creative community is also shaping up to be bitterly divided over the merger. On one side are many of the directors, actors and producers who actually make films.
Despite the fact Netflix has long attracted A-list talent to make its movies and shows, many filmmakers remain deeply skeptical of any platform that prioritizes a streaming-first approach to distribution and largely eschews theatrical exhibition.
Netflix typically puts only certain titles in select cinemas for short runs, and in some cases only to meet eligibility standards for awards consideration.
“I think that’s fundamentally rotten to the core,” the Oscar-winning director and producer James Cameron said in a recent interview with entertainment journalist Matt Belloni.
“A movie should be made as a movie for theatrical, and the Academy Awards mean nothing to me if they don’t mean theatrical,” Cameron said. “I think they’ve been co-opted [by the streaming platforms], and I think it’s horrific.”
When Belloni pointed out that Netflix has promised to continue putting Warner Bros. titles in theaters, Cameron dismissed the pledge as “sucker bait.”
Speaking before the merger announcement, Cameron said a sale of Warner Bros. assets to “Netflix would be a disaster.”
Few industries stand to lose more from the Netflix release model than the movie theater industry, whose leading trade group called the planned merger an “unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business.”
“The negative impact of this acquisition will impact theatres from the biggest circuits to one-screen independents in small towns in the United States and around the world,” said Michael O’Leary, president and chief executive of Cinema United, the theater trade group.
“Cinema United stands ready to support industry changes that lead to increased movie production and give consumers more opportunities to enjoy a day at the local theatre,” he said in a statement Friday. “But Netflix’s stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition. In fact, it is the opposite.”
But while opponents to the merger have already come out swinging, some top-tier filmmakers may have a more nuanced perspective on Netflix’s influence.
Netflix has provided a safe haven for acclaimed, risk-taking directors like Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”), Guillermo del Toro (“Frankenstein”), Spike Lee (“Da 5 Bloods”) and Jane Campion (“The Power of the Dog”). (None have publicly endorsed the merger.)
For others, Netflix is merely the least bad option in a bleak media landscape.
In the eyes of some Hollywood executives, what’s more troubling than the streaming vs. theatrical release issue is the existential threat posed by Google’s YouTube and ByteDance’s TikTok.
The two free content platforms continue to give the traditional entertainment industry a run for its money in the battle for eyeballs and attention. In the month of October, YouTube was the leading television viewing platform, according to Nielsen, an audience measurement firm.
That’s all before you factor in the disruptive rise of generative artificial intelligence, which produces videos at warp speed.
When you consider what the future of media looks like for Hollywood, Warner Bros.’ best chance for survival may be in the tight embrace of Netflix.
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