producers, directors and
expressed skepticism about
proposed
from
Warner Bros. Studio Discovery Inc.
and streaming businesses, saying it threatens to undermine their interests.
which announced in October it would oppose any sale to Warner Bros., reiterated that view on Friday, saying the Netflix purchase “should be blocked.”
“The world's largest streaming company gobbling up one of its biggest competitors is what antitrust laws were designed to prevent,” the guild said in an emailed statement. “The result will result in job losses, lower wages, worse conditions for all entertainment workers, higher prices for consumers and a reduction in the volume and variety of content for all viewers.”
The concerns raised by the film and television industry's largest trade groups come amid falling film and television production, declining ticket sales and sharp job losses in Hollywood. Another legacy studio, Paramount, was sold earlier this year.
Warner Bros. accounts for about a quarter of North American ticket sales—roughly $2 billion—and is being acquired by a company that has long avoided theatrical releases for its feature films. As part of the deal, Netflix chief executive Ted Sarandos promised that Warner Bros. will continue to release films in theaters.
“The proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Netflix poses an unprecedented threat to the global exhibition business,” Michael O'Leary, chief executive of theater trade group Cinema United, said in an emailed statement Friday. “The negative impact of this acquisition will impact cinemas from major chains to independent single screen cinemas.”
Purchase of Warner Bros. Netflix “would be a disaster,” James Cameron, director of some of Hollywood's highest-grossing films in history, including Titanic and Avatar, said on The Town podcast in late November. “Sorry, Ted, but damn it, Sarandos has officially declared that theatrical films are dead.”
On a conference call with investors Friday, Sarandos said his company's resistance to releasing films in theaters was largely due to “long exclusivity windows, which we don't think are very consumer friendly.”
On Friday, the company said it would “stand by Warner Bros.” current activities and build on its strengths, including theatrical film releases.”
During the call, Sarandos reiterated that view, saying that “right now you should expect that whatever is scheduled to be released in theaters through Warner Bros. will continue to come to theaters through Warner Bros.”
Competition from online companies such as YouTube and Netflix has led to a reckoning in Hollywood, opening the door to acquisitions like the Warner Bros. deal announced Friday. Media giants including NBCUniversal parent Comcast Corp. are offloading cable TV networks like MS Now and USA and pouring resources into streaming.
In a letter emailed to Warner Bros. employees. on Friday, Chief Executive David Zaslav said the board's decision to sell the company “reflects the realities of an industry that is experiencing generational shifts in how stories are financed, produced, distributed and discovered.”
The Producers Guild of America said Friday its members are “rightly concerned about Netflix's move to acquire one of our industry's most storied and significant studios,” and a Directors Guild of America spokesman expressed concern about future salaries at Warner Bros.
“We will meet with Netflix to outline our concerns and better understand their vision for the company's future,” the Directors Guild said.
In September, the DGA appointed director Christopher Nolan as its president. Nolan has previously criticized Netflix's model of releasing films exclusively online or in a small number of theaters at the same time, and said he would not make films for the company.
The Screen Actors Guild said Friday that the deal “raises many serious questions about its impact on the future of the entertainment industry, and especially on the creative talents of the people whose livelihoods and careers depend on it.”
Oscar winner Jane Fonda spoke out Thursday before the deal was announced.
“Consolidation on this scale would be catastrophic for an industry built on freedom of expression, for the creative workers who support it, and for the consumers who depend on a free, independent media ecosystem to understand the world,” the star of Netflix series Grace and Frankie wrote on news site Ankler.
Netflix and Warner Bros. obviously don't think so. In his message to employees, Zaslav said that “the proposed merger of Warner Bros. and Netflix reflects complementary strengths, greater choice and value for consumers, a stronger entertainment industry, expanded opportunities for creative talent and long-term value creation for shareholders.”
