Potentially the End of a Hollywood Era

I’ve held off on discussing this for a while in large part because the story always felt like speculation and there wasn’t much to really report on yet. The news started with Paramount (who had just been purchased by the Ellison-owned Skydance) making a bid to buy Warner Bros. This would be a seismic shift of the movie-making landscape since these are two of Hollywood’s oldest, and most respected (modern moves notwithstanding) studios. Paramount was built in 1912, and Warners came along in 1923. Both are over a hundred years old and are considered two of the “Big Five” when it comes to movie making and Box Office. For one to want to buy the other, effectively making one of the two studios no longer exist, that would drastically change the whole movie making landscape.

Before we get into what this would do for Hollywood, though, let’s first look at why Paramount would even want to buy Warner Bros. To be clear, Warners has been struggling. They were massively in debt before current CEO (and internet villain) David Zazlav took over. Zazlav came on board when Warners merged with Discovery, creating Warner Bros. Discovery (creatively named, I know), and it was meant to create a newly powerful, ready to take on anything, studio that could rival its glory days.

That hasn’t happened. Instead, Zazlav’s tenure has been marked by repeated failures, like HBO MaxThe oldest and longer-running cable subscription service, HBO provides entertainment in the force of licensed movies along with a huge slate of original programming, giving it the luster of the premiere cable service. Now known primarily for its streaming service, HBO Max (formerly Max, HBO Max, HBO Go, HBO Now, et al). failing to become the “next big thing” in the streaming market (to say nothing of the change in names from HBO Max, to Max, and then back to HBO Max as if Zazlav is a Jedi going, “you never noticed this streaming service name change”). He also killed a lot of in production films (such as Batgirl), writing them so the studio could take a tax write off instead of releasing effectively completed films that audiences were excited for. And all through this, the studio continues to bleed movie, viewers, and audience good will. The latest movie from Zazlav, before Paramount strolled in, was to break up the company, shifting Warner Bros. away from the dying cable business of Discovery, creating two companies, with Zazlav staying with Warners (after coming in from Discovery to lead the whole, sinking ship).

So yeah, the Jedi wanted to wave his hand again, “you never noticed there was one company. It was always two.” He’d get to stay CEO of the bigger share, and keep making all that money he clearly hasn’t been earning, but, from the sound of it, the investors weren’t really happy with that decision. They, like everyone else, could see through this whole charade. Zazlav has been a failure and the company is dying, no matter how you break it up. What was needed was a fresh perspective and a new way to make money. Instead, the company is now up for sale.

The trick here is that at first Warner Bros. wasn’t interested in being purchased by Paramount. At least, not for the price being offered. Paramount tried twice more, and both offers were rejected, but, long run, it did make Warners realize that maybe selling themselves was better than trying to right the ship on their own. They put a “for sale” sign out, and now various studios are circling. One of them is still Paramount, yes, but the other is Netflix, and apparently both studios are mulling just what they want to offer so they can get all of Warners.

Bear in mind, Warners is more than a currently failing studio. They do have a ton of IP, from DC Comics to the storied films of both the main studio and New Line Cinema. Beyond that, Warners currently owns the rights to the Lord of the Rings franchise as well as the Harry PotterFirst released as a series of books (starting in the UK before moving worldwide), the Harry Potter series gained great acclaim before even becoming a series of successful movies. Now encompassing books, films, a prequel series, and a successful two-part play, the series even now shows no end in sight. franchise. Those are big names with big fanbases that any studio that knew what they were doing (clearly not WB, after all) could use to make mad bank and stay well in the black for decades. Warners hasn’t necessarily done that well, but some other studio controlling them could.

The fear in Hollywood, especially among theater owners, is what a merger like this could mean for theatrical output. Paramount buying Warners would be similar in scope (if not scale) to Disney buying Fox. Paramount wants two things from Warners: their IP and their reasonably successful streaming service. While HBO Max is no rival to Netflix, it is still more widely used than Paramount’s own service, Paramount+. A merger between the two companies would not only give Paramount that jewel, it would let them merge their films and shows over to HBO Max and create a larger, more successful (and, thus, more lucrative since they could raise prices) streamer that might rival Netflix. Maybe.

Plus, yes, all those IPs are certainly tempting. Anyone that bought WB would get DC Comics, with its burgeoning and (despite what the Snyderbros. might say) successful DC UniverseThe successor to WB's failed cinematic universe, the DCEU. Headed by James Gunn and Peter Safran, this new DC Universe carries over some continuity from the former film and TV series while crafting a new, rebooted universe for the future.. They would get the Wizarding World of Harry Potter license, along with the currently in production Harry Potter TV series that HBO is producing. They would get a big portion of Middle-Earth (although not the bit that Amazon PrimeWhile Netflix might be the largest streaming seervice right now, other major contenders have come into the game. One of the biggest, and best funded, is Amazon Prime, the streaming-service add-on packing with free delivery and all kinds of other perks Amazon gives its members. And, with the backing of its corporate parent, this streaming service very well could become the market leader. owns, but that’s fine since no one likes what Amazon Prime has done with it anyway). They would get a lot, and could do so much with it. That’s nothing to sneeze at.

The downside of a merger between Paramount and Warners is that, more than likely, less films would come out afterwards, not more. When Disney bought Fox, they promised that the studio’s output would stay the same. Fox at the time was releasing twelve (or more) films a year. After the merger, theaters were lucky to see five films from the newly rebranded 20th Century Studios. Sure, some of that could have been COVID and the after effects thereof, but that doesn’t change that theaters are getting less films from the studio now than they were before when they were two companies, and that cuts into their bottom line. The same could, in theory, happen if Paramount buys Warner.

But that’s nothing in comparison to what could happen if Netflix were to buy WBD. While Paramount at least continues to release films for full, theatrical runs, Netflix is frequently choosy about what they put out in theaters, only putting out a couple of their biggest titles each year for short runs of a week or so at a time. If Netflix bought Warners everyone expects they’d continue that trend. Instead of the multiple WB releases each year, there’s a solid chance all their films end up on Netflix, and maybe only one or two films, like a DC superhero movie, get a short weekend release before it disappears into the Netflix vault.

If you listen to the Snyderbros online, Netflix buying WBD absolutely means, no doubt, no questions asked, that the Snyderverse (aka, the DCEU) would come back. Except there are doubts, plenty of them, and a lot of questions would be asked. Yes, Zack SnyderOften reviled for the bombastic and idiotic content of his films, there is no question that what Snyder's movies lack in substance they (at least try to) balance out with flash and style, making him one of Hollywood's top directors... sadly. does have a friendly relationship with Netflix. They have worked on a number of projects with him, from Army of the Dead to Rebel Moon Part 1 and Part 2, and the television series Twilight of the Gods, so if Snyder asked, and Netflix were inclined, there’s a chance he could be allowed finish his Justice League trilogy and give the fans what they wanted.

It’s not a big chance, though. Remember that Zack Snyder was forced to rework Justice League during its initial production, and then was gently shoved off the film, so that Warners could have a brighter, happier film than Snyder wanted. That’s because the previous film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, also a Zack Snyder joint, underperformed at the Box Office. Snyder was then not asked to come back for any later DCEU films, and his role as creative director and mastermind of the franchise was ended. Sure, they let him redo his work and make Zack Snyder’s Justice League later so that HBO Max had content during the COVID era, but even then the film reportedly didn’t mean the streamer’s viewing numbers, and no further discussion at the time was raised about bringing Snyder back again.

And that ignores a couple of other major facts. The first is that, by and large, the main cast of Justice League has stated they have interest in reprising their roles. Cavill has moved on to Warhammer 40k and Highlander. Ben Affleck had such a miserable time playing Batman that he never wants to do it again. Ezra Miller is a sex pest and creepy cult leader that should be in prison, not another film. And Jason Momoa is now in the DCU, cast as Lobo for the Supergirl film. Whether Gal Gadot or Ray Fisher would want to come back as Wonder Woman or Cyborg respectively is up for debate, but the rest of the cast seems to have little need or want. Maybe with enough money, but at a certain point that does feel like throwing bad money after good.

Plus, James Gunn has already started up the DCU with Superman, Creature Commandos, and the continuation of Peacemaker. Despite what the Synderbros will say online, those works have been successful, financially and critically, and there’s real momentum built up to continue that universe and not back slide to a live-action cinematic universe no one wants and that audiences largely rejected. The best that might happen is that Snyder is invited to make animated versions of his last two Justice League films, but the fans have already stated that’s not what they want and they won’t watch animated versions. So, yeah, can’t please anyone sometimes.

Meanwhile, if Netflix bought WBD it would all be for the IPs. Netflix doesn’t care about HBO Max and would likely dissolve it entirely. Why run two streaming services when you already run the biggest one in the world? All that content would go to Netflix and they’d consume and consume until WB was just a symbol at the start of a film. Likely they wouldn’t really exist anymore after, getting rid of one more streamer while also encouraging Netflix to charge even more money for their own streaming service, which feels like a real lose-lose situation.

Zazlav says that whoever buys them would keep the studio running as its own thing, with him in charge, but that’s wishful thinking on his part. When one company buys another they eventually consume them until the original company is no more. Think Disney and Fox, or EA and Maxis. Unless the government steps in during the purchasing process and says, “hey, this might cause some antitrust issues,” companies rarely worry about keeping the old guard around when the new owners can do whatever they want.

Would the government step in here? Maybe. If Paramount buys Warners you have two of the smaller studios (by comparison) joining up to make a more powerful studio to rival Netflix or Disney, with a streaming service that might compare. And a Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would likely get Trump administration approval since Trump likes the Ellisons and seems willing to rubber stamp whatever they want. A Netflix merger might be harder, since it would create an even larger company with an even larger slice of the streaming pie. That might be a bridge too far but… who knows?

In the end what it really means is that Warners as we know it will likely go away in the next couple of years. Maybe some of the brands live on. Maybe the DCU continues as planned. We won’t know until it happens. But whatever is the case, the Hollywood landscape is going to change and there’s very little at this point that could stop it.