Over the last few years, we have seen several massive Hollywood mergers, from Disney buying Fox to Discovery buying Warner Bros to, most recently, Skydance buying Paramount. Now it looks like we may be in line for another, as recent indications are that Warner Bros could very likely be sold again in the near future, with the only question being to whom?
There are a lot of reasons that mergers like this are potentially bad news, including reduced competition and almost certainly a reduction in the total number of movies being made on a regular basis. A lot of people are worried about the fate of Warner Bros. Larry Gordon, a producer on the recent Predator: Badlands, as well as many classics like Field of Dreams. is one who is truly lamenting the future. He recently told the New York Times…
I hate this. With Fox gone, this is like another death in the family.
For so many people who grew up in the cinema, the WB logo means something. Gordon is clearly one of those people, and he’s far from the only one.
There are still a lot of questions regarding the future of Warner Bros., but recent reports indicate that Paramount Skydance, the newly merged company under David Ellison, recently made an offer for the 102-year-old studio. While that offer was apparently declined, the expectation is that another offer will be forthcoming. It’s also been reported that Comcast, the parent company of Universal Pictures, is also considering making an offer for WB.
Even more so than when Disney bought Fox, another studio snatching up and consolidating Warner Bros. would mean the end of an era for Hollywood. Warner Bros. is a studio behind some of the most iconic movies in the history of the medium, from Casablanca to Bonnie and Clyde to My Fair Lady to films that will likely become classics in their own right, like the Harry Potter and Dune movies. As another Hollywood insider, Dan Jinks, the producer of American Beauty, puts it…
To lose Warners as a stand-alone studio would be heartbreaking. There are already so many good people in every area of entertainment who are out of work, and now we find out that one of the biggest, most reliable studios could get consolidated?
At this point, it seems all but certain that Warner Bros. will be sold, and it’s unlikely the future buyer will be somebody looking to keep the studio as an independent entity. Only other studios are likely to be interested in making such a massive purchase. It’s possible, even likely, that Warner Bros. will continue to exist as a studio, just as Fox still does under Disney, but it still won’t be the same. The end of an era is almost certainly on the way.