One of the year’s biggest entertainment stories hit headlines this week when Netflix announced plans to acquire Warner Bros. for nearly $83 billion. Assuming the massive deal doesn’t get shot down by regulators — more on that in a moment — what does it mean for Netflix? What, exactly, would Netflix acquire as a result of the deal?
According to this Wikipedia breakdown of Warner Bros.’ various holdings and properties, they would acquire a lot, and then some. There is, of course, Warner Bros.’ own film library, which includes classics like Casablanca, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Searchers, Bonnie and Clyde, and Enter the Dragon as well as more modern hits like The Matrix, the Harry Potter films, Ocean’s Eleven, Inception, and Barbie.
But Warner Bros. also owns DC Studios as well as DC Comics and all of its subsidiaries, meaning Netflix could become the new home for Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, et al., similar to how Disney owns Marvel. As mentioned before, Warner Bros. owns the Harry Potter adaptations (including the upcoming HBO TV series). They also own what is perhaps the most epic fictional universe of all: Middle-earth. More specifically, all of the Tolkien-related movies, including the upcoming Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, following their 2008 acquisition of New Line Cinema. (The Rings of Power TV series is wholly owned by Amazon, however.)
But those holdings, as significant as they are, represent just the tip of the iceberg.
For example, Warner Bros. owns all Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films released before May 1986, a sizable catalog that includes The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, Singin’ in the Rain, Forbidden Planet, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Christmas Story. Vintage Lorimar TV series like The Waltons, Dallas, SilverHawks, ALF, and Perfect Strangers could soon belong to Netflix alongside Cartoon Network titles like Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Laboratory. And speaking of cartoons, the Warner Bros. acquisition would also mean that Netflix owns Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, and the rest of the Looney Tunes library, much of which is currently streaming on Tubi.
So like I said… a lot.
Not surprisingly, some in Congress are already scrutinizing Netflix’s deal while others have criticized it as a bad faith move. Also keep in mind that acquisitions and consolidation are great for C-suite execs and shareholders, but less so for everyone else. One can’t help but wonder how much art has fallen through the cracks and been irretrievably shelved thanks to decades of media and studio consolidation, not to mention all of the lost jobs and price increases. (Indeed, some of the biggest questions swirling around Netflix’s acquisition concern its potential effect on theatrical releases, Warner Bros.’ TV productions, and personnel.)
It ultimately comes down to this: Do we want a future in which more and more movies and TV series are produced and controlled by fewer and fewer companies? When a single company like Netflix controls a vast swath of our cultural legacy, that inevitably means they control what is available and when it’s available, and not necessarily the expansion of consumer choice you might think. Netflix already faces criticism for the lack of older titles in their streaming library. Will they do a better job of preserving and promoting if they own some of the most iconic and beloved movies and TV series of all time, or will those get shelved and suppressed so as not to threaten or overshadow Netflix’s original titles?
It could take a year or more for Netflix’s acquisition to go through, assuming it passes all of the necessary regulatory checks, so we won’t know the answer to those questions for quite some time. But if you care about our shared cultural legacy, then now’s the time to start thinking about the real ramifications of such an acquisition. And maybe buy some physical copies of your favorite movies and TV series while you’re at it.
Update #1 (2/26/2026): Netflix has opted drop their efforts to purchase Warner Bros. after Paramount put forth a superior offer. As the AP’s Wyatte Grantham-Philips notes, Paramount’s purchase would “put CNN under the same roof as Paramount’s CBS and combine two of Hollywood’s last five remaining studios.”