Will Netflix buying Warner Bros. eliminate movies from theaters?

When Sonya Yokota Williams heard this Netflix was ready to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s TV and film studios She couldn’t help but worry that the very future of the moviegoing experience – one of Hollywood’s oldest and most prized properties – was in danger.

Netflix’s assurances that it will maintain the studio’s current operations, including theatrical releases for films, have done little to ease industry concerns about the streaming giant’s attitude toward theatrical releases.

“I think the proof is in the pudding and what we’ve seen so far is a complete reluctance to put films in cinemas,” said Williams, director of the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors, a coalition of independent cinemas.

Although Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s TV and film studios and streaming division for US$72 billion, the deal is still subject to regulatory approval. Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance launched a hostile takeover bid $108.4 billion US value.

Industry analysts say that although people still want to watch movies in theaters, the cost of doing so has increased and customers need a more solid reason to go. Some analysts suggest that theater companies and studios have not made enough effort to market their product as a relatively inexpensive experience.

‘Unprecedented threat’

Netflix’s takeover bid “poses an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business,” said Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of Cinema United, a trade organization that represents more than 31,000 movie screens in the U.S. and Canada.

Netflix’s business model does not support showing movies in theaters, he said.

The deal would risk wiping out 25 percent of the annual domestic box office if F.He said, “Films traditionally given a strong theatrical release by Warner Bros. tend to disappear from theaters.”

According to media analytics company comScore, the projected domestic box office in 2024 was about $8.7 billion, down from $9 billion in 2023.

O’Leary criticized Netflix’s “token theatrical release” of a handful of films, which he says is done mostly to ensure they receive Oscar consideration. Guillermo del Toro frankensteinFor example, it was given a limited theatrical release for three weeks starting on October 17, before it was available to stream on Netflix on November 7.

Industry concerns related to nNot only to the Netflix business model, but statements made by Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos that have called into question the future of theatergoing.

For exampleJust last April, Sarandos, speaking at the TIME100 Summit in New York City, called the concept of people watching movies as a communal experience “an old idea.”

“Who wins in that scenario when you remove the option of being able to watch a movie in a cinema,” Williams asked.

Serena Whitley, program director at The Review Cinema, a Toronto independent theater that shows older films, says Warner Bros. is probably one of their best distributors. But she wonders if her list will be available forIf to display m Netflix has taken it over.

“There’s a reason why exhibitors are so concerned right now,” Whitley said. “If they choose not to handle the catalog the way you were able to access it now, it could greatly impact (repertory) theaters.”

pushback on specific windows

Since the bid was announced, Sarandos has appeared to soften his negative tone on the theatrical release.

He said Netflix is ​​not opposed to movies being released in theaters, and his opposition is about longer exclusivity windows – the amount of time when movies are only available in theaters – which he doesn’t consider consumer friendly.

The Los Angeles Times reported in April that the average theatrical window shrank by about 30 days After Covid-19. Before the pandemic, movies typically stayed in theaters for at least 80 days before becoming available to watch at home.

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But Alicia Reese, senior analyst covering the media and entertainment sector with financial services firm Wedbush, says the problem is the small theatrical window demanded by Netflix.

“You’re training moviegoers to look out the theater window. And that runs the risk of it being too small,” he said.

She also says that while Netflix has said it will honor the studio’s theatrical release commitments — which extend to about 2029 or 2030 — the question is what it will do after that.

There are still plenty of movies that haven’t been scheduled for release, Reese said, which means Netflix can keep those movies under its umbrella and make them available on its streaming platform.

Some analysts have argued that films lose revenue due to the short release time in theaters. The Numbers, a website that analyzes the film industry, released a report in April 2025 that found that small theatrical windows cost domestic theaters approximately US$100 million per year.

He said, “My opinion is that when (Netflix) respects these specific theatrical windows, they will quickly learn their value.” “And they’ll probably change their tune.”

But The bidding war has begun on Warner Bros. resubmitted question he is done picked up first Regarding the future of filmmaking in general, aand whether Watching movies at home is an unstoppable trend.

“For two decades, theaters have been constantly struggling with how to get people into seats. Today, this challenge has come into existence“According to the real threat,” a new report Released ahead of management consulting firm Bain & Company’s Netflix bid.

The report found that during the pandemic, Release schedules collapsed, consumer habits changed, and digital platforms took over. Additionally, the cost of going to a movie theater has also increased and consumers now find it expensive to watch movies, according to the report.

Cityfrom ng data Number, The report said domestic cinema attendance is still only 64 percent of pre-pandemic levels.

Customers need ‘a compelling reason to go’

Meanwhile, in Canada, Movie theater business grew in 2024, but still hasn’t reached its pre-pandemic peak, according to an August 2025 Statistics Canada report. It found that theater attendance is also stabilising, at about two-thirds of the level seen six years ago.

The Bain report concluded that audiences have not abandoned theaters, they simply “need a more compelling reason to go.”

This includes the industry redefining itself “as a premium experience” and seeing a film in theaters should be “considered an event, a destination, an experience that is far more affordable than tickets to a Taylor Swift concert.”

“Theaters can deliver on this promise through premium auditoriums, service and personalization that can’t be replicated at home,” the report said.

Reese says studios will also have to be more efficient in marketing their films.

He said, “It’s not that moviegoers don’t want to go, because you see that they definitely go when there’s content they really want to see.”

Williams, with the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors, pointed to theatrical box-office successes barbie And oppenheimer – known collectively as “Barbenheimer” because both were released on the same day in 2023 – is proof that audiences are still hungry to see movies in theatres.

“Choosing to see a movie in a cinema means that you really care about seeing that movie and you care about taking the time,” Williams said. “We just think audiences deserve the option to be able to have that experience.”