Warner Bros. purchase Netflix gives you what you’ve always needed: identity

close your eyes, Think for a minute and tell me: What is a Netflix movie? Well, try again: What’s the Netflix show?

Sure, it’s easy to name some killer headlines—Demon hunters in kpop, Strange things– But Netflix had no brand identity at all. It’s not, like Disney, the home of Star Wars and Mickey Mouse. As streaming services go, they’ve made their name by being a jack of all trades and never a master. Now, she’s made her smartest move yet, spending $83 billion to buy herself a whole new persona.

The streaming giant announced on Friday that it will acquire Warner Bros. Entertainment. The deal gives Netflix the studio’s film and TV operations as well as HBO and HBO Max. For those who can’t keep up with who owns what these days — no one can — this means that once the deal closes, Netflix will own everything from Batman to… Big bang theory, Wizard of Oz To Westeros. also, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potterand prestigious TV shows such as The soprano.

According to Paul Erickson, a media and entertainment analyst at Omdia, having content with this kind of name recognition will allow Netflix to attract and retain subscribers. “This will also increase Netflix’s position within the industry in terms of talent, hiring and salary negotiation,” he added.

The deal, which is expected to close next fall after Warner Bros. Discovery is separating its cable business (CNN, HGTV, Discovery, and others), and Hollywood was given a big surprise when Netflix announced it Friday morning. The future of Warner Bros. Discovery has been hanging in the balance for weeks, with a series of potential buyers making offers. NBCUniversal’s parent company Comcast has made a bid. So did Paramount Skydance — which worried some, given that the Paramount-Skydance merger, chaired by David Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, has become a political football involving everything from South Park to The Late Show with Stephen Colbertwhich was put on ice this summer.

In the end, Netflix won, making itself the place viewers would go game of thrones Rewatches and anything new James Gunn does with the DC Extended Universe. In fact, it gives the streaming giant an identity it never had before and a back catalog that rivals that of Disney+. It could also turn the streaming giant into something much closer to a traditional film and TV studio, if that’s what it wants.

This is the big question. Once the acquisition was announced, industry observers began speculating on whether or not Netflix would continue, say, Warner Bros.’ commitment to theatrical releases, which is important to its directors like Sand dunes Director Denis Villeneuve. Some also wondered, given recent comments by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos about embracing generative AI, whether it would lead to more AI content being created thanks to the Warner Bros. library. Huge. All scenarios seem possible, but they also conflict with each other. Today’s deal means Netflix has a decision to make: either use the legacy of Warner Bros. Which it acquired to continue as a major studio in Hollywood, or used to produce large amounts of content but much less art.