Warner Bros x Netflix: The Deal that’ll Keep on DEALING
By Gaby Sosa
Up to this point, the industry has been at a stalemate. THIS is something tangible that filmmakers
and industry leaders alike can reference, revolt against as well as support. Streaming services and
shorter theatrical windows. Box office and bigger audience viewership. Timeless libraries,
questions of monopolies, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese.
The first image that came to mind was when Ted Sarandos made a cameo on the Golden Globes
episode of … THE STUDIO with Seth Rogen. I know. Life imitates art or vice versa? The whole
point of the show is to showcase how powerful film executives first got into show business for
the love of films. Seth Rogen’s character who spearheads a fictitious studio — Continental
Studios which is reminiscent of past conglomerates — struggles every single day with this moral
quandary.
Seth Rogen himself has explained in past interviews that much of this show is inspired by what
an executive told him when they were trying to sell films after their success in the early 2000s —
“I got into this business because I love movies and now, I get paid to kill them.”
I think there something incredibly interesting about this point in history. Ted Sarandos is also the
same executive who recently interviewed Guillermo Del Toro for Frankenstein. As a reminder,
Guillermo Del Toro is heavily against the usage of AI in film. With the inception of Kronos and
having Alejandro Iñarritu and Alonso Cuaron as collaborators coming up in the industry, he’s a
purist and auteur through and through. They could’ve easily used AI to cut costs for production
design — something Guillermo is notoriously known for, but they remained true to authenticity.
Then I think of Martin Scorsese. Even Scorsese being veteran in the industry faced no’s for his
film, The Irishman. Scorsese spent years shopping it to conglomerates and traditional studios. It’s
a 3 hour plus movie and it spent a large number of their budget to de aging actors like De Niro.
Why? Again. Remaining true to its authenticity and what the story begged.
All this to say, I’m curious on what Netflix’s strategy is here. There’s a very clear case of bad
faith in terms of the immediate logistics. Warner can’t really do anything until it’s acquired. This
means, if a project has the option between Netflix vs Warner … well, overtime Netflix runs up
their slate. Depreciating competitor’s assets? Acquiring TIMELESS libraries like Batman and
Harry Potter? Risking 25% of an annual domestic box office in an already scarce economy?
Antitrust issues?
What’s next?
That’s what’s exciting. Paramount can step up? There’s a 5.8 B breakup fee and 12-18 months of
negotiations to get through.
Nolan is set to meet with Netflix, James Cameron called this potential deal between Netflix and
Warner Bros a “disaster”, the guilds already posted their significant concerns of this deal, the
WGA highlighting “the outcome would eliminate jobs, push down wages, raise prices for
consumers (…)” and then there’s also…. HBO and responses from the DOJ and the EU. Yup.
Note: This was written on December 7 th .