A new contender may have just entered the Warner Bros. Discovery sweepstakes. With Paramount and Skydance officially cementing their merger back in August, there were rumblings that the newly bolstered entertainment giant under David Ellison was next looking to acquire the storied Hollywood studio, bones and all. However, Puck News has now reported that, in a shocking twist, Netflix may be considering a bid. Adding smoke to this potential fire is that the streamer’s CEO, Ted Sarandos, was recently in attendance at the Crawford–Álvarez fight in Las Vegas alongside WBD chief David Zaslav.
The report further details that, unlike Paramount-Skydance, which would be acquiring all the branches, cable networks, and more from both the Warner Bros. and Discovery sides, Netflix may be more interested in just the studio and streaming part of the business. It’s uncertain just how aggressive the streaming company could be in trying to acquire all that, especially with Ellison looming with seemingly no worries about the cost for the whole kit and caboodle, and his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, worth over $350 billion as of writing, behind him. With the expected astronomical price of WBD, the company’s debts, and talks of potentially splitting off the cable networks, however, such a deal would take time to come into place, leaving the door open for Netflix or another suitor to sway Zaslav. Puck has also previously reported that Zaslav isn’t certain the right offer will be there if Ellison makes a bid. Whatever the case, a potential move to Netflix would represent a seismic shift in the entertainment industry by putting at least some part of a Hollywood legacy company in the hands of a streaming-first giant.
Netflix has been the face of streaming for years now, for better and for worse. Since transitioning from its original mail-order rental DVD business, the company has continued to grow, offering a wide range of original television shows, including Wednesday and Stranger Things, as well as movies like Rian Johnson‘s Knives Out sequels and Sony Pictures Animation’s breakout hit KPop Demon Hunters, directly to homes. They’ve increasingly represented a challenge to the old-school Hollywood system, luring big-name creatives from Noah Baumbach to Edward Berger into their fold and establishing a greater foothold as a home for award-contending cinema, like the former’s Jay Kelly. That has also earned a fair bit of backlash, however, given the company’s outright refusal at times to give films extended runs in theaters. It’s unclear how, or if, their strategy would change with WBD’s catalog at their fingertips.
Warner Bros. Has Been on a Hot Streak at the Theaters
Against all odds, Warner Bros. managed to bounce back in a big way in theaters this year. Between Ryan Coogler‘s original vampire hit Sinners, Zach Cregger‘s horror epic Weapons, the Jack Black-led A Minecraft Movie, and James Gunn‘s long-awaited Superman, among other things, the studio has been boat racing everyone at the box office. It even managed a feat never accomplished in Hollywood history by scoring six straight films earning $40 million or more. Things look fairly rosy on the horizon, too, with their next big release being Paul Thomas Anderson‘s One Battle After Another, a title that has earned effusive praise as one of the best films of the year. Between more DCU films starting next year with Supergirl, Emerald Fennell‘s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, and much more, they’re set theatrically for the foreseeable future.
The sheer volume and diversity of the Warner Bros. theatrical and streaming catalog would massively bolster Netflix’s stockpiles if they could find a way to convince Zaslav to sell. This auction is expected to take some time, and Zaslav might decide to keep the studio and continue trying to separate other parts of WBD to make it work. Ellison’s involvement appears to be keeping everyone honest, at least, with NBCUniversal also said to be crunching the numbers on an acquisition, even though it seems unlikely. At the end of the day, all signs still point to Paramount-Skydance as the favorite if a merger does happen, with Ellison the only one who could, theoretically, give Zaslav a Godfather offer.
Stay tuned here at Collider for more on the future of Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, and Paramount’s involvement in the potential bidding war to come.
- Release Date
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July 11, 2025
- Runtime
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130 minutes
- Director
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James Gunn
- Producers
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Peter Safran
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