Theaters In Serious Trouble As Netflix CEO Confirms Plans To Make Warner Bros. Release Windows “More Consumer Friendly”
Between the in-person sales implosion resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and Hollywood’s subsequent push for more streaming service-centric business models, recent years have been rough for movie theaters – and unfortunately, the recent Netflix-Warner Bros. deal is only set to make things worse thanks to the indirect confirmation that the streaming giant is looking to shorten the latter’s theatrical release windows.
RELATED: Streaming Giants Unite: Netflix Acquires Warner Bros. Discovery
As announced earlier today, Netflix has entered a “definitive agreement” to purchase the entirety of Warner Bros. portfolio, as recently separated from its Discovery Global content and including everything from DC’s comic book library to the full The Lord of the Rings film rights, in exchange for an approximate $82.7 billion USD, as split between an upfront payment of roughly $70 billion and an agreement to take on roughly $10.76 billion of the studio’s debt.
Though both entities have shaken on it, the deal is not yet done, as its terms still need to be reviewed by the United States’ Federal Trade Condition regarding potential monopoly concerns.
However, upon passing said review (which will undoubtedly see pressure applied to it by President Trump due to his close financial and personal relationship with current Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison), the dust will settle with Netflix completely in control of WB, whose current CEO David Zaslav will survive the transition and remain in his position for the foreseeable future.
While the deal’s announcement press release did all it could to hype up customers over this latest instance of corporate consolidation and frame its completion as a net benefit for the industry – In classic Hollywood flim-flam fashion, the streamer declared, “Beloved franchises, shows and movies such as The Big Bang Theory, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Wizard of Oz and the DC Universe will join Netflix’s extensive portfolio including Wednesday, Money Heist, Bridgerton, Adolescence and Extraction, creating an extraordinary entertainment offering for – audiences worldwide.” – co-CEO Ted Sarandos quickly agave away its potential to further enshittify Hollywood during a subsequent conference call held with both investors and members of the press.
Met with an inquiry as to how, “you’ve been focused on keeping the value of Netflix content exclusive to your platform, mostly avoiding theatrical releases. So can you just discuss why do you plan to change that strategy now with the Warner Bros. theatrical releases? Or would you be open to evolving Netflix’s release to a day and date type of tentpole strategy in the future?”
In turn, Sarandos began, “So a reminder, we’ve released about 30 films into theaters this year. So it sounds like we have this opposition to movies in the theaters [but we don’t].”
RELATED: James Cameron Says Netflix Films Being Eligible For Academy Awards Is A “Fundamentally Rotten” Idea
“My pushback has been mostly in the fact of the long exclusive windows, which we don’t really think of that consumer
friendly. But when we talk about keeping HBO operating largely as it is, it also includes their output movie deal with Warner Bros, which includes life cycle that starts in the movie theater, which we’re going to continue to support.
“So I don’t — I wouldn’t look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies or for Warner movies for that matter. I think over time, I think the windows will evolve to be much more consumer-friendly to be able to meet the audience where they are quicker, all those things we’d like to do.
“But I’d say right now, you should count on everything that is planned on going to the theater through Warner Bros. will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros. and Netflix movies will take the same strides they have, which is some of them do have a short run in the theater beforehand. But our primary goal is to bring first-run movies to our members because that’s what they’re looking for. And up until now, this was not our business model. I said that many times. We are acquiring a business that is — that is part of the business model, and we intend to continue with that.
Though he never directly says the exact words ‘We are absolutely going to be shortening release windows’, audiences aren’t dumb, especially when those involved have proven themselves slaves to the dollar over anything else, and thus can easily cut through his above hemming and hawing and realize that things in the film industry are about to get way, way worse.
For the entirety of its thus far 102 year existence, Warner Bros. has been a backbone of the Hollywood, from its development of technical innovations like synchronized film sound to its ever-constant facilitating of the box office eco system, their films having served as a major draw ever since draw of their various releases, from 1921’s School Days to this year’s Superman.
However, should Netflix make it standard practice to whisk Warner Bros.’ future releases out of theaters and onto streaming as fast possible, this will no longer be the case.
Per recent history, such a devaluing of the studio’s blockbusters would lead them to being treated as ‘yet another thing I can wait for on streaming’ by general audiences, thus damming up a massive revenue stream for both individual films and physical movie theaters, the latter of which will find itself nearly extinct thanks to the resulting loss of ticket and snack sales to in-person customers.
From there, Netflix will see the trend of ‘box office failures’ and overreact, likely by becoming far more risk averse when it comes to green-lighting projects and slashing the budgets of those films that do get made, which will inevitably result in a significant and blanket drop in the quality of Warner Bros.’ overall output, possibly to the point of some major franchises being written off as generic, boring slop (some even moreso than they already are).
Ultimately, while Netflix subverting expectations and ushering in a cinema renaissance would be a most welcome case of ‘eating crow’, it would be foolish to believe that such an outcome would be the most likely result rather than a one in a quintillion longshot.
Rather, your energy would be better spent investing in seeking out and supporting those creators, independent or otherwise, that still support the mediums that Hollywood now leeches off of.
