James Cameron is sharing his thoughts on the forthcoming possible merger of Netflix and Warner Bros.
The streamer is in negotiations to take control over Warner Bros.’ film and TV studios, as well as HBO and the streaming service HBO Max, in a massive deal valued at an estimated $82.7 billion.
The acclaimed Avatar filmmaker has now sent a letter to Utah Senator Mike Lee, who is the chair of the Senate subcommittee on antitrust, saying the merger could be disastrous for the film industry and theatrical moviegoing.
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“My 44-year directing career has been focused on making movies for theatrical exhibition, and I believe strongly that seeing movies in theaters is an important pillar of our culture, to say nothing of being one of our biggest exports, in purely economic terms,” he said, via CNBC. “But the cinema marketplace has contracted sharply in recent years, by about 30%, due to media consumption habit-patterns changing as a result of the Covid pandemic and the concurrent rise of streaming.”
“I believe strongly that the proposed sale of Warner Brothers Discovery to Netflix will be disastrous for the theatrical motion picture business that I have dedicated my life’s work to,” James added. “Of course, my films all play in the downstream video markets as well, but my first love is the cinema.”
James also noted past comments by Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos where he has said movie theaters were “an outdated concept” and “outmoded idea,” as well as, “Driving folks to a theater is just not our business.”
“The business model of Netflix is directly at odds with the theatrical film production and exhibition business, which employs hundreds of thousands of Americans,” James wrote in his letter. “It is therefore directly at odds with the business model of the Warner Brothers movie division, one of the few remaining major movie studios. ‘Warners’ releases approximately 15 theatrical movies a year and the beleaguered moon picture exhibion community desperately depends on that output.”
He continued, “It will be a blow to the exhibition community (theater owners and their tens of thousands of employees) at a critical time to have this production output redirected to streaming.”
Amid the talks of the companies merging, Ted has affirmed that Warner Bros movies will maintain a theatrical release as before, but James notes he said it would be a 17 day window, which would be “ridiculously short” as currently many believe the minimum window should be 45 days.
“So 17 days is a token window, and grotesquely insufficient. Secondly, a pledge of any number of days does not mean anything unless there is a concomitant pledge of the number of theaters. A major film release typical goes out to over 3000 theaters day-and-date, in the domestic marketplace,” James said.
“Though a pledge for a theatrical window may be given now in order to assuage critics of this ill-conceived merger, there is no guarantee of how Netflix may run its business in years to come,” he added. “Their pledge to support theatrical releases (a business fundamentally at odds with their core business model) is likely to evaporate in a few years.”
Actor Mark Ruffalo has responded to James‘ letter, posing that he should now be asked if the filmmaker has an issue with Paramount acquiring Warner Bros, which would still be a monopoly in the marketplace.
“I think the answer would be very interesting for the film community to hear and one that should be asked immediately. Is Mike Lee against the Paramount sale as well? Is he as concerned about that as he is the Netflix sale?” Mark wrote on Twitter/X. “We all want to know. …Speaking on behalf of hundreds of thousands of film makers world wide.”
In response to someone’s reply to his tweet, Mark reacted, “Instead of what one is better than the other what we should be addressing is how either of these are good for the business, for making good movies with diverse points of view and making sure our business continues to work for the many and not the few.”
The Netflix and Warner deal is yet to be finalized, and Paramount is actively seeking a final deal over the streamer.
