Cinema United expressed concerns to Congress on Wednesday about the sale of Warner Bros., arguing that losing a major studio would mean fewer movies, job losses and theater closures. In a letter to the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust, exhibition industry trade groups focused much of their attention on the threat Netflix could pose to their businesses, noting the streaming service’s skeptical attitude toward the movie business.
“We are deeply concerned that Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. will have a direct and irreversible negative impact on movie theaters around the world,” the group said in a statement. “Such acquisitions
Greater control over film production and distribution.
Delivering a single, dominant global streaming platform in an already highly concentrated market.
The impact extends not only to theater owners but also to movie fans and surrounding businesses.
In communities of all sizes. ”
However, the magazine emphasized that it would also be a challenge if Netflix were to stall and Paramount, which is looking to outdo the streaming giant, buys Warner Bros.
“Our concerns would be equally grave if Paramount or another major studio were to replace Netflix as a buyer,” the group wrote. “For example, the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would consolidate 40 percent of each year’s domestic box office revenue into the hands of a single dominant studio.”
When Netflix announced it had struck a deal to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO Max for $82.7 billion, the company’s co-CEO Ted Sarandos said he respected the studio’s existing theatrical efforts. Still, he insisted that time windows (the industry term for the amount of time a movie is shown exclusively in theaters) would “evolve” in a more “consumer-friendly” way.
“If Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. is not challenged, the threat to our members would be serious and possibly existential, given the hostility towards exhibitions,” the group wrote. “Netflix has described theatrical distribution as ‘obsolete’ and reiterated its goal of producing movies exclusively for Netflix members and distributing them primarily on Netflix rather than in theaters.”
Cinema United points out that since 2023, the average run time for Netflix movies has been 11 to 17 days, compared to the average run time for major studio films of 46 days in 2024 and 58 days in 2023.
In general, Cinema United sounded skeptical that the sale of Warner Bros. to a competitor would benefit the movie business. He noted that there have been several mergers in recent years, such as Amazon’s acquisition of MGM and Disney’s acquisition of Fox, which often result in new companies releasing fewer films. In Disney’s case, the group said, “Prior to the merger, the two companies produced approximately half of the films produced annually.”
Cinema United argues that if movie theaters go out of business, the economic impact will be far-reaching.
“Movie theaters are the cultural and economic pillars of our communities. Again, we are a Main Street industry, and we put that at risk when we allow fewer films into the marketplace. Movie theaters close, communities suffer, and jobs are lost.”
