The water tower at the Warner Bros. Studios lot appears on Aug. 23, 2016, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)2025-12-05T17:38:36Z Netflixs deal to acquire Warner Bros., one of Hollywoods oldest movie studios, poses seismic shifts to the entertainment industry and the future of moviegoing.As one of the remaining big five studios, the 102-year-old Warner Bros. is an essential part of movie theater business.The studio currently boasts three of the top five earning films domestically, including A Minecraft Movie, in first place, Superman and Sinners, as well as the Oscar frontrunner, One Battle After Another.There are more questions than answers about how ownership from a streaming giant would change things for Warner Bros. Its not even clear if it will pass antitrust scrutiny, or, if it does, what the details will look like. Here are some things to know, and lingering questions.Paramounts hostile takeover bidParamount on Monday launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, going straight to Warner shareholders with a bid worth about $74.4 billion, or $30 per share in cash. Unlike Netflix, Paramount is also offering to buy the cable television assets. Paramount executives said their offer is worth about $18 billion more than the competing bid from Netflix. It is the same bid that Warner Bros. had earlier rejected in favor of Netflixs offer. Donald Trumps responsePresident Donald Trump said Sunday before the Kennedy Center Honors that Netflixs acquisition of Warner Bros. could be a problem because of the size of the combined market share.Netflix is a great company. Theyve done a phenomenal job. Ted is a fantastic man, Trump said of Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, noting that they met in the Oval Office last week before the deal was announced Dec. 5. I have a lot of respect for him but its a lot of market share, so well have to see what happens. Will Warner Bros. continue releasing movies in theaters?Yes, but it might change as well. For starters, itll be at least 12 to 18 months before the deal officially goes through and moviegoers can expect essentially business as usual until then. Sarandos said Friday that they will continue to support a life cycle that starts in the movie theater for Warner Bros. movies. But he also commented that he doesnt think that long exclusive windows are consumer friendly.With the rise of streaming, and especially in the pandemic era, studios experimented with different theatrical windows. For many years, a 90-day theatrical window was standard, but now its closer to 45 days and often a film-by-film decision. Netflix and movie theatersNetflix does release some films theatrically, but not usually more than a few weeks before they hit streaming. Sometimes thats to qualify for awards eligibility, sometimes its a gesture to top filmmakers. This year those releases included Guillermo del Toros Frankenstein, Kathryn Bigelows A House of Dynamite and Noah Baumbachs Jay Kelly.Major chains like AMC and Regal had refused to program Netflix releases until 2022, when enthusiasm for the Knives Out movie Glass Onion helped break the stalemate.Earlier this year, KPop Demon Hunters unofficially topped the box office charts, earning nearly $20 million from a one-weekend run in theaters two full months after it debuted on the streamer.Netflix also owns and operates several movie theaters, including the Paris Theater in New York and the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles. Upcoming Warner Bros. moviesThe studio has a diverse slate of films expected in 2026, with high profile titles including the Margot Robbie-led Wuthering Heights in February, Supergirl in June, Practical Magic 2 in September, Alejandro Irritus untitled Tom Cruise movie in October and Denis Villeneuves Dune: Part Three in December.Movies planned for 2027 include sequels to Superman, A Minecraft Movie and The Batman.Earlier this year the company said its target was 12 to 14 releases annually across its four main labels, Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Studios, New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. animation. What does it mean for movie theaters?So much of this depends on the details, but Cinema United president and CEO Michael OLeary said hours before the news broke that it posed an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business.He added: Regulators must look closely at the specifics of this proposed transaction and understand the negative impact it will have on consumers, exhibition and the entertainment industry.Theatrical exhibition has not fully recovered since the pandemic. Before 2020, the annual domestic box office regularly surpassed $11 billion. Since then it has only surpassed $9 billion once, in 2023, driven largely by Barbie, a Warner Bros. release. How will top filmmakers react?Its too early to tell, but Warner Bros. has always prided itself on being one of the premier homes for top filmmakers, this year releasing films from Paul Thomas Anderson, Ryan Coogler and James Gunn. Other longstanding relationships include Villeneuve, who has Dune: Part Three coming next year, Clint Eastwood and Todd Phillips. Much likely depends on whether robust theatrical releases will be honored many of these filmmakers are vocal champions of the theatrical experience and may not stick around if it shifts.Sentimental Value director Joachim Trier on Monday told The Associated Press, I make films for the big screen and believe in the theatrical experience and I just want to make sure the experience is maintained.Director Park Chan-wook, also speaking to AP Monday, said that he didnt want to speak about it specifically because nothing has been confirmed, but that, regardless, I still believe that movies should be watched in theaters.The studios controversial decision to release films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max in 2021 during the pandemic led to a rift with Christopher Nolan, who after making eight major films with the company, including the Dark Knight trilogy, partnered with Universal to make his next two films, Oppenheimer and next years The Odyssey.Will HBO Max and Netflix become one service?Thats also unclear. If the two platforms remain separate subscriptions, there may be bundling options, as with Disney and Hulu. Netflix on Friday said that the addition of HBO and HBO Max programming will give its members even more high-quality titles from which to choose and optimize its plans for consumers.The Warner Bros. library of films includes classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane as well as the Harry Potter movies.___Associated Press writers John Carucci , Sian Watson,and Jonathan Mattise contributed to this report.___This story first moved on Dec. 5, 2025, and was updated on Dec. 8, 2025, to include comments from President Donald Trump, Paramounts hostile takeover effort and comments from prominent directors about the deal. LINDSEY BAHR Bahr has been a film writer and critic for The Associated Press since 2014. twitter instagram mailto