{"id":427971,"date":"2025-12-06T04:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T04:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427971\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T04:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T04:13:11","slug":"theater-owners-worry-netflix-buying-warner-bros-will-kill-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/427971\/","title":{"rendered":"Theater Owners Worry Netflix Buying Warner Bros. Will Kill Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMovie theater operators are reeling after Netflix<\/a>, long viewed as public enemy No. 1, announced that it has a deal in place to buy Warner Bros. for $82.7 million. The sale, which still needs regulatory approval<\/a>, has the potential to re-shape a business that is already struggling to regain its pre-pandemic stride, leaving cinemas with fewer films to showcase on their screens.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe world just shifted on its axis,\u201d said Stacey Spikes, co-founder of MoviePass, a subscription ticketing service. <\/p>\n

\n\tSome theater owners are openly rooting for the federal government to deny Netflix the chance to vacuum up Warner Bros., because they rely heavily on the 12 to 14 movies that the studio releases annually.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHopefully the deal gets killed so Warners can be sold to a better entity,\u201d says Chris Randleman, chief revenue officer at Flix Brewhouse, a Texas-based luxury movie theater chain. \u201cThe ball is in the court of the talent in Hollywood. I hope they come out against this, because that could change things. All the IP in the world isn\u2019t going to mean anything if you don\u2019t have filmmakers and movie stars willing to work with you.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tPublicly, Netflix\u2019s leaders have stressed that it \u201cexpects\u201d to keep releasing films theatrically. But on a call with investors and press on Friday shortly after the sale was announced, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos<\/a> didn\u2019t exactly give a ringing endorsement<\/a> for the theatrical experience \u2014 even as he promised the commitments Warner Bros. made to release upcoming films in cinemas would be honored.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI wouldn\u2019t look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies or for Warner movies,\u201d he said. \u201cI think, over time, the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly, to be able to meet the audience where they are quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tExhibitors and filmmakers seized upon those commitments, believing that Sarandos said the quiet part out loud. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe most ominous words I read were that the windows will \u2018evolve,’\u201d says one A-list director. \u201cI know exactly what it means. Netflix wants to put movies in theaters for one week to two weeks then it\u2019s right to streaming. At that point, why put it out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the pandemic, many studios shortened the amount of time that movies screen exclusively in theaters. Before COVID, most films stayed in theaters for 90 days before debuting on home entertainment. Now, some theatrical releases are available to buy or rent within a few weeks. Exhibition executives fear that if Sarandos further shortens windows, the consequences could be dire.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt has been widely proven that shorter windows would result in lower revenue generation potential for movies,\u201d says Eduardo Acuna, CEO of Regal Entertainment. \u201cThese lower revenues would inevitably result in theater closures, which would limit consumers\u2019 ability to see movies in the format that filmmakers originally intended. Furthermore, it would result in job losses and economic harm to surrounding businesses to those theater closings. Ultimately, consumers would be worse off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOther theater operators tried to sound more optimistic. They believe that once Netflix operates a studio like Warner Bros., with a library that includes franchises such as \u201cBatman,\u201d \u201cOcean\u2019s 11,\u201d \u201cThe Lord of the Rings,\u201d \u201cHarry Potter\u201d and \u201cThe Conjuring,\u201d they will understand that they are leaving money on the table by not keeping movies in cinemas for longer.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt could be a big win for us,\u201d predicts Tim Richards, founder and CEO of Vue Entertainment, Europe\u2019s largest privately owned cinema operator. \u201cOnce they\u2019re releasing movies like \u2018Barbie\u2019 or \u2018Minecraft\u2019 that are making a billion dollars in theaters, they\u2019re going understand that our business model can make them a lot of money, while also driving interest in movies when they go on streaming.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tEven before the deal was announced, exhibitors were struggling with a lack of compelling movies to screen. Studios have cut back on the number of projects they produce, and the sale of 21st Century Fox to Disney in 2019 left the business with one fewer major studio. They\u2019re particularly concerned about the Netflix acquisition because Warner Bros. has been on a roll this year. The studio is No. 1 in terms of market share, having released hits like \u201cSinners,\u201d \u201cA Minecraft Movie,\u201d \u201cSuperman\u201d and \u201cWeapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis is very consequential,\u201d says Acuna. \u201cWarner Bros. had seven movies open to over $40 million this year. That\u2019s never been done before and they\u2019ve done a fantastic job of making a lot of movies across many different genres.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tOn the investor call, Sarandos noted that Netflix has released 30 movies in cinemas. \u201cIt\u2019s not like we have this opposition to movies into theaters,\u201d Sarandos stressed on his call with investors. <\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, many of these movies, such as \u201cA House of Dynamite\u201d and \u201cJay Kelly,\u201d show on hundreds of screens, not thousands like a typical wide release. They debut in theaters in order to qualify for Oscars. But exhibitors have benefitted from the arrangement. Netflix usually only takes 35% of ticket sales, compared with major studios who receive more between 50% to 60% on their bigger releases. <\/p>\n

\n\tSome exhibitors hope that the debt that Netflix is assuming to buy Warner Bros. might incentivize the company to look for new revenue streams. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMy official position is, I hate this, and I want this to not happen \u2014 but I\u2019m not in full freakout mode,\u201d says Randleman. \u201cMoney is still money. You can only raise prices so much on your subscriptions. How do you pay for your $80 billion investment? Well, ticket sales can help you make a dent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Movie theater operators are reeling after Netflix, long viewed as public enemy No. 1, announced that it has…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":427972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,4659,161221,67,132,68,27281],"class_list":{"0":"post-427971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-netflix","10":"tag-ted-sarandos","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115670680079991985","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}