• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 4 hours ago

A real theatrical-streaming battleground is ready to commence on a big media industry screen. This goes beyond current drama.

Legacy movie theater owners -- including Cinema United, the movie theater trade association -- don't like the announced $83 billion deal of Netflix acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery’s valuable Warner Bros. studio and key HBO Max, HBO operations.

The obvious threat is that Netflix, the dominant premium streaming platform will use WBD to push its streaming agenda leaving movie theater distributors out of the mix.

The whole streaming versus theatrical movie wars that started in earnest in the first year of the pandemic in 2020 could now reach a different, more financially difficult level for movie theater chains like AMC Networks, Regal Cinemas, Cinemark.

“The negative impact of this acquisition will impact theatres from the biggest circuits to one-screen independents in small towns in the United States and around the world,” said Michael O’Leary, president/chief executive officer of Cinema United.

He added: “Netflix’s stated business model does not support theatrical exhibition. In fact, it is the opposite. Regulators must look closely at the specifics of this proposed transaction and understand the negative impact it will have on consumers, exhibition and the entertainment industry.”

The biggest threat is that WBD’s 15 or so yearly theatrical releases will dramatically decline, shifting with increased expectation to the streaming services.

Movie theaters have already seen a slowdown in midsized movies -- including older adult-skewing movies with no special effects that air non-holiday/non-summertime periods. Analysts say some of these movies have made their way to streaming services owned by the media companies that have major studio operations.

As a studio, Warner Bros. is among the top five in Hollywood alongside NBCUniversal, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney and Sony Pictures.

This year Warner Bros. had planned up to 14 releases. Major box-office results from hits came from “Superman”, “A Minecraft Movie”, “F1:The Movie” (for Apple); “The Conjuring: Last Rites” and “Sinners.” To date, WBD became the first studio to exceed $4 billion globally in box-office revenues.

There is other criticism of Netflix as well by movie analysts -- that it takes shortcuts when it comes to glean Oscar hardware for its movies.

For instance, Netflix movies having very limited theatrical runs in a couple of its owned theaters -- Paris Theater in New York, and Egyptian Theater in Hollywood -- meeting the bare minimum of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences threshold with the hope of getting nominations for the big awards.

Overall, O’Leary's message was this:

“Netflix success is television, not movies on the big screen. A true commitment to exhibition means a robust slate of movies with a meaningful period of theatrical exclusivity supported by marketing.”

Bottomline movie theaters -- which has only just resurrected its business after the crushing pandemic closed the U.S theaters virtually everywhere -- are bracing for more business troubles.

That said, movie theaters might have some help. Sources into the antitrust division of the Department of Justice says Netflix streaming premium dominance coupled with perhaps the strongest movie studio currently may not approve the deal.

What comes after that? The hope is that perhaps a more friendly legacy media company like Paramount Skydance or Comcast’s NBCUniversal will buy WBD -- keeping hope alive that movie theaters can continue to rebuild.