With Netflix set to acquire Warner Bros., how does this bode for television and movies?

The cinema and TV landscape has changed drastically in the last few years. Streaming has dominated most households, with one if not multiple monthly subscriptions to services like Netflix and Disney+. Streaming has replaced many traditional forms of entertainment, phasing out audiences from cable television and movie theatres. 

More sweeping changes are imminent for the industry. Netflix is now in the final stages of an acquisition deal with Warner Bros., which would mean Netflix acquiring all HBO and HBO Max franchises. The studio has agreed to buy the studio and its assets for USD$83 billion. 

Netflix’s M.O. 

Netflix’s business model was built to substitute mainstream forms of media, aiming to replace Blockbuster, movie theatres and cable all at once by offering an all-in-one solution. They have streamlined the viewing experience, positioning themselves as the one-stop shop for all your viewing needs. 

Incidentally, there exists an annual downward trend in households having cable TV. According to Convergence Research’s annual “Couch Potato” Report, an estimated 46 per cent of Canadian households did not have a television subscription with a cable, satellite or telecom-based provider at the end of 2024, and that number is expected to rise to 54 per cent in 2027. 

Networks have followed suit with this streaming model and moved a lot of their funding and attention toward their on-demand content, competing with each other in price, access and original shows.

Netflix announced to investors in December: “Beloved franchises, shows and movies such as The Big Bang Theory, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Wizard of Oz and the DC Universe will join Netflix’s extensive portfolio including Wednesday, Money Heist, Bridgerton, Adolescence and Extraction, creating an extraordinary entertainment offering for audiences worldwide.” 

Paramount has placed and lost counterbids to block this move, recognizing how this acquisition has the ability to substantially impact cinema and TV.  

The Binge Model 

The streaming world birthed a new television model: eight episodes, 90 minutes each, all released at once. Introducing this binge model to television meant that entire seasons were now released and consumed in one sitting. Limited series like “The Queen’s Gambit” (2020) benefit greatly from this format, operating more like an eight-hour movie, which would never exist with traditional TV. 

This format can also be uniquely limiting. Viewership would be limited to audiences already willing to pay for a subscription, despite the hope that these shows will bring in new subscribers to the service; many original shows go under the radar and have little chance for renewal. 

This binge model has changed the writing process of TV shows. TV arcs would historically be developed as the show aired weekly, spanning 30 episodes and weighing audience reactions. 

Episodes dropped all at once means that their staying power and cultural impact are diminished. Shows do not stay in the topic of conversation for long, as audiences are watching the show within one weekend, dissecting the entire plot in detail in video essays until a new show comes. 

Recall that 2025 saw the release of Season 3 of Squid Game and Season 5 of You, both being Netflix’s biggest titles with hundreds of millions of views. Within a few short months, the culture has already moved on. With this binge model, even if a TV show is able to gain a large viewership, it burns hot but goes out fast. 

Creatives behind the shows are not encouraged to create a quality viewing experience, either. Netflix executives have admitted to catering the viewing experience for “second screen viewing”. Essentially, the streaming service creates shows with the assumption that audiences are likely viewing their shows with a phone in their hand and divided attention. The streaming service labels certain shows as “second-screen shows”, where writers are given the note to make dialogue more “second-screen” friendly; in other words, “tell, don’t show”. 

This might explain the increased expository language in the newly released season of Stranger Things, which had viewers criticizing it as having “overexpository” dialogue, that seemingly had characters overexplaining plot points to the viewers. Out of fear that their audiences will get lost in complicated plots and allusive dialogue, Netflix seems to be willing to sacrifice quality for digestible content. 

Compensating Creatives

Creatives are, in fact, actively discouraged in the process. For decades, cable television operated on a residuals system that was relatively simple and equitable by industry standards. When an episode aired for the first time, actors and writers were paid an initial fee. Networks owed payments to cast, writers and crewmembers for every subsequent rerun, whether on cable, in syndication or through international licensing.

Because cable networks relied on advertising revenue tied to ratings, audience size mattered. The more a show was watched and rebroadcast, the more its creators earned. Residuals functioned as a consistent wage, allowing successful series to provide steady, long-term income and making it possible for working creatives, including those behind the camera, to build sustainable careers.

Netflix and other streaming platforms dismantled that model. Streaming shows do not “rerun” in the traditional sense, but instead live in on-demand libraries. Rather than paying residuals based on viewership or frequency of use, Netflix uses formulas that account for subscriber counts and overall platform size. These payments are largely disconnected from the actual audience engagement of the show itself. Viewership data is kept private, meaning creators cannot verify a show’s success or benefit proportionally from it. A hit series that attracts millions of viewers may generate only modest residuals, while payments decline sharply over time regardless of continued popularity. 

Movie Theatre Apathy

Movies are not safe either. Cinema is quickly changing, especially in light of this new acquisition. Movie theatre attendance is dwindling by the year. According to a study done by the Movie Theatre Association of Canada, Canadians purchased an average of 1.6 movie tickets in 2024, down 46 per cent from 2019. The study found that 62 per cent of Canadians saw a movie in theatres. However, much of that number is concentrated in the top 12 per cent of viewers who watched more than 10 movies in theatres. The average audience member is not leaving their house to go to the theatres, and likely waiting instead for movies to go to streaming. 

Directors themselves are aware of this shift. Since 2020, theatrical windows have been shrinking. Most wide releases spend an industry average of 37 days in theatres in 2023. 

Most major studios like Sony and even A24 have deals with large streaming platforms, waiting approximately 4 months before putting them on streaming. Warner Bros. has historically pushed its titles to its streaming service, HBO Max, the quickest among all major studios, at an average of only 76 days. 

Superman, released by Warner Bros. in July of 2025, was only in theatres for 35 days despite its box office success. The movie was released digitally a month later in August of 2025. The director James Gunn explained that this short theatrical window would allow audiences to see Superman on streaming platforms in time for the new season of another DC show, Peacemaker, on Warner Bros.’ streaming service HBO Max. 

There is seemingly a rush to get these titles onto streaming platforms, and studios are growing apathetic to the box office performances of their movies. 

What’s Next?

Netflix is adamant that there is nothing to worry about. At a conference, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos responded to counteroffers and public reactions about the acquisition:

“There’s been speculation about what we would do with this. I think it’s important to note that all we are going to do with this is staying deeply committed to releasing those movies exactly the way they’ve released the movies today, all three of these new businesses we want to keep operating largely as they are, the theatrical business we have not talked a lot about in the past, about wanting to do it, because we’ve never been in that business. When this deal closes, we are in that business, and we’re going to do it.”

The trajectory of entertainment is moving in a trend that harms audiences, creatives and the art itself, while maximizing revenue for large studios. One can only hope the pendulum swings back around and studios are able to make the most of the digital medium.