Warner Bros., despite a financially successful 2025 with box office hits like “A Minecraft Movie,” “Sinners,” “Superman,” “F1” and “Weapons,” did not recover from its declining stock over the past five years due to factors such as COVID-19 and streaming competition from rivals like Disney and Netflix. This prompted Warner Bros. to go up for sale in late 2025. Initially, Netflix and Paramount offered competitive deals; however, Netflix was chosen, and the acquisition is expected to close in late 2026 or early 2027, pending regulatory review.
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This merger solidifies a “Big Three” in streaming: Netflix, Disney and Amazon. These three companies control 60% of the streaming market. This lack of competition could lead to a rise in streaming costs and leaves smaller players like Apple TV+ and Paramount with a much steeper climb to remain competitive. This merger is all but certain to further increase Netflix’s subscription prices, despite the increase in selection in its catalogue, as subscription prices have already been on a steady rise over the past few years. The subscription currently costs $8 a month for a plan with ads and $25 for a plan without ads. “It is really frustrating when they raise the prices because I want to watch all my favourite shows, but they’re so expensive these days,” Spanish teacher Elsa Schoberg said.
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Netflix is notorious for not giving its movies extended releases in theaters. Major hits from Netflix this year, such as “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” and “Frankenstein,” only received one- to two-week limited releases in theaters before being put on streaming. Warner Bros. is the owner of major IP’s and franchises such as Harry Potter, DC Comics, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones and Looney Tunes, and there is a concern that once Netflix gains these IPs, they will start to phase out theatrical windows, which could mark the beginning of the end for cinemas and the theater experience, which have already been struggling since COVID-19. “I like going to the movies because watching a movie with other people in a theater has a sense of community that you don’t get watching at home,” sophomore Nathan Neches said.
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In January of 2024, directors James Gunn and Peter Safran announced their new DC universe under Warner Bros., which was kicked off in July of 2025 with the release of “Superman,” a success among both critics and at the box office. So far, Gunn has been able to lead this new universe mostly independent from supervision by higher-ups at Warner Bros. However, with DC Comics now merging with Netflix, there is concern that Netflix won’t let him operate as an independent, which could affect the future of this DC universe and Gunn’s role in it. “I’m kinda scared after they bought it, cause they might start changing everything just to make it more binge-able, losing what has made these franchises good in the first place,” junior Dylan Perry said.