We all know that Hollywood mostly makes movies for money, or sometimes greenlights the most absurd ones just to make a profit. One studio that could not have been more obvious about this is none other than Warner Bros. Hollywood dug its grave when we first found out in early December that Warner Bros. had decided to sell the company in a bidding war. This upset me because Warner Bros. has created thousands of classic, iconic films. Warner Bros. has actually led in Oscar nominations, with 30 from the films they have released in 2025. Seeing a big-name studio just deciding to throw away all of that for money was just greedy. Over time, while everyone anxiously waited to find out which studio would take the win, one blindsided everyone. That company was the one and only streaming company, Netflix.
In late December, Netflix, one of the biggest streaming companies, was the winner of the Warner Bros. bidding war. It was announced that Warner Bros. accepted Netflix’s $82.7B bid. It was frustrating to hear, but with the other competitors bidding for the studio, Netflix did seem like a safe, albeit not the best, option for Warner Bros. While audiences, including me, were devastated that this deal was planned to go through, another studio was not happy with that choice either. Paramount Skydance, a major movie studio, was not happy with this decision and sought to recoup its losses by launching a $108.4B hostile bid. Even though Paramount attempted a hostile takeover, Warner Bros. rejected it and focused on its partnership with Netflix.
That was until recently, on Feb. 17, Warner Bros. reopened its negotiations, restarted talks with Paramount, and gave Netflix about seven days to discuss its bid. Until, on Feb. 26,, Netflix decided to withdraw its offer to acquire Warner Bros. after Paramount increased its all-cash offer, topping Netflix’s first bid, making the hostile bid valued at around $110B. From this, many executives have expressed concern, citing potential layoffs if this deal goes through and audience disappointment.
Recently, Paramount’s CEO, David Ellison, has spoken about what will occur when this deal goes through. For one, the two main services, Paramount + and HBO Max, will be merged into one. So, when the deal goes through, you could see a show like Game of Thrones next to South Park on the same app. Also, this could increase subscriber costs; currently, each streaming service is around $50 or more, and if the deal goes through, it could rise.
Another concern that could arise is the diminishing number of films per year. Even though Elision announced plans to release around 15 films per year, they have only a 45-day window in theaters. Mind you, Paramount released only nine films last year, while Warner Brothers released 12. So it doesn’t seem like these two will try to release 15 films, it just wouldn’t work out. Another major concern for both audiences and investors is that, if the deal goes through, Warner Bros. and Paramount would be combined under $79B in debt. Thinking about that seems so insane, considering that each studio separately is already in billions of dollars of debt. Warner Bros. is in debt of around $33.5B, and Paramount is in debt of around $54B.
Finally, the last and final concern that has audiences even more worried is that the Paramount CEO stated that the usage of AI will be used as a tool, but not as a replacement for storytellers. As we know, AI has been growing rapidly in Hollywood, but the news that both of the biggest movie studios are deciding to use AI to help with storytelling seems very sad and disappointing. While we do know AI will be used for assistance, the fact that it will be used in films meant to connect emotionally with audiences seems disconnected.
Overall, the fact that Warner Bros. has even decided to sell the company seems very shocking. Warner Bros. has a legacy of iconic films produced over 100 years. While Netflix wasn’t the best choice for audiences, Paramount was the studio that most audiences were not happy about. Recently, Paramount has not been good about film releases over the past two years. Personally, I’m also not happy about this merger, and hopefully, this deal will not go through.