HOLLYWOOD—I was flabbergasted when I heard this news. I’m not just a movie lover, but I am a historian when it comes to cinema. Not just because I love it, but because I studied it heavily in college and I am still studying film as we know it. You have the movie studio model that came into play in the 1920s and that has dominated for like the last 100 years, that was until the pandemic struck and then streaming took over.
It’s vital to know many of the streamers are directly connected to a movie studio, however, there are those like Netflix and Apple TV that are not. So, imagine my shock when discovering Warner Bros. was up for sale. I’m like I’ve known this film studio for all my life and the fact that another company could take them over stunned me; I was shocked. Why? Some of my favorite movies of all time comes directly from this film studio. What are going to happen to those iconic franchises if they are given a rebirth because we all know that is going to transpire at some point, and Netflix cranks out content that is subpar at best.
Then the other shoe drops, and news was released last week that Netflix, yes, Netflix of all the companies possible has made a $80 plus billion deal to purchase Warner Bros. I did not like to hear this and I will tell you why? For starters, its Netflix. I have never been a fan of this company because in my opinion they are just greedy. Every 5 minutes, they are raising their rates, they don’t want you sharing your password to your family, and the quality of content is NOT that great.
Netflix is all about quantity not quality and that is my frustration. We are talking about many cable channels that might be your favs like CNN, Food Network, HGTV, TNT, the list goes on and on and we can be seeing a massive change in content and operations. I don’t want to even chat about movie franchises that I am worried about that could be destroyed because Netflix might obtain the rights. Hell, I am truly hoping whoever owns the rights to some of these iconic franchises refuse to sell to Netflix.
You have those companies that want to do justice by iconic franchises, but many who are just looking to make a quick buck or two or more. This is the movie industry, so the big focus is making money, not delivering top tier content to the consumer. Then we had the new drop Monday, that Paramount Pictures that has been having its own financial issues, jump into the battle hoping for a hostile takeover of Warner Bros. over Netflix by offering nearly $100 billion to purchase.
I do like the idea of more than one company vying to purchase the movie studio, but at the same time I question if Paramount Picture is a better option? I will say this, it’s a better option than a streaming service who wants everything to be available on its platform. The worry is rather movies will still be released in theaters. Yes, that is a concern of Netflix, they are about streaming more than movies hitting theaters and guess what that is what Warner Bros. Pictures is known for: releasing movies in theaters NOT on streaming platforms.
I have seen a plethora, and I mean plethora of content on Netflix that has been awfully bad. Not entertaining but just churned out in hopes of getting people to watch to increase NUMBERS. This is worrisome and people who are not worried about what might be taking place especially if you’re a fan of cinema, true cinema, you might want to think again because the idea of going to the movie theater could soon disappear if Netflix has the end say.
