Movie Theaters Dread Any Warner Bros. Merger – The Hollywood Reporter

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos extended an olive branch to theater owners on Monday after rival David Ellison and his mega billionaire father, Larry Ellison, launched a $108.4 billion hostile bid that could derail the streamer’s $82.7 billion deal to buy Warner Bros., home of one of the few remaining iconic Hollywood movie studios. Speaking at an investor’s conference Monday in New York City, Sarandos made it clear that Warner Bros. will remain in the business of releasing movies theatrically (conversely, original films made for Netflix will stick to their gameplan). “We have not talked a lot about in the past about wanting to do theatrical, because we’ve never been in that business. When this deal closes, we be will in, and we’re going to do it,” said Sarandos, indicating that all of the studio’s box office this year, including A Minecraft Movie, Weapons and Sinners, wouldn’t have driven the same value without a proper release, with the implication being a robust marketing spend, something Netflix is loathe to do for its fare. “We didn’t buy this company to destroy that value,” he concluded. While Sarandos makes for an easy punching bag because of his long issue with theatrical windows, exhibition sources
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