Last night, the bombshell news that Netflix had decided to pull out of the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery hours after the David Zaslav-led media company’s board declared Paramount's new bid a “superior proposal” left the entire industry reeling.
Though there was obviously some apprehension about Netflix taking ownership of WBD, a lot of people viewed it as the lesser of two evils.
Filmmaker Gregory Orr, the descendant of Jack Warner, has now weighed in (via THR), and he admits to being alarmed at the prospect of Paramount Skydance's David Ellison taking charge, especially as it pertains to the number of job losses that could come to pass due to duplication of roles.
Though Orr was initially sceptical about Netflix's offer and the possibility (let's be honest, likelihood) of shorter theatrical windows, he now believes that the streamer "offers Warner Bros. the strongest opportunity to thrive as a storied creator and distributor of world-class entertainment.”
“As to Paramount and Ellison, I don’t hear a good argument for why they should buy Warner Bros. Discovery except that they will benefit from it," he went on. "Paramount offers very little in global streaming or cash reserves or income compared to Netflix.”
“The deal with Netflix was a good marriage,” Orr added, noting that Warner “merging with Paramount Skydance is like a shotgun wedding with your dumb cousin. I fear for the health of the kids.”
Orr is far from the only high-level figure to voice their concerns. A veteran regional studio head who preferred to remain anonymous tells Deadline:
“Just the debt repayment schedule alone doesn’t bear thinking about. If Netflix don’t think it makes sense at that price, then what genius at Paramount thinks they can make it work? It’s very easy to make savings by cutting budgets and people, it’s much harder to organically and systematically grow a business. Paramount’s modus operandi has been the former for years under Viacom. Netflix on the other hand have shown there is another and better way. There’ll be more blood than in Iron Lung, and more BS from exhibition talking of their great friends and colleagues on the studio side whilst not only stabbing Warner employees in the back, but pushing them down the stairs at the same time.”
“Get ready for 30 rehashed franchise movies a year generated by Oracle AI, with no-one left to market them. But don’t fear: theatrical will keep their precious windows to showcase Transformers vs Superman 8.”
According to more than one well-placed source, the Paramount deal was only made possible due to equity from Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, and, needless to say, these were not charity donations.
“These are important questions to be asking,” said one studio vet based overseas. “We may never know the answers, but the idea that Middle East sovereigns will own such large pieces of the U.S. (and global) media is shocking. We’re just inured to it all after a year plus of Trump madness.”
Still, not everyone views the Paramount deal as a bad thing.
“Of course everyone would prefer that Warner Bros stayed stand-alone, but that won’t happen," said one head of a leading European film distribution company. "Paramount’s acquisition is better than that of Netflix because at heart David Ellison is a producer — he likes filmmakers.”
How do you feel about Paramount taking control of WBD? Drop us a comment down below.