Ever since Disney got the green light to acquire Fox, every corporation’s decided it’d like to do the same thing. What was once a thing that frankly shouldn’t have happened and hasn’t tangibly benefitted anyone beyond letting folks say “[x IP] is awesome again!” and “Wolverine can fight the Hulk!” is now just an average part of our day as corps keep trying to out-acquire one another and turn themselves into empires.
Warner Bros. is the latest company under threat of acquisition, with Netflix and Paramount both trying to be the next owner of Batman and Game of Thrones. At first, it seemed Netflix would easily bring another addition to its (mostly) anti-theatrical stable, but Paramount (which merged with Skydance just last year) just won’t have it. Current CEO David Ellison has complained, cried foul, and more recently filed a lawsuit as a means of blocking the deal WB’s shareholders already approved. At time of writing, a judge ruled that the Transformers studio hasn’t “identified [or suffered] any cognizable, irreparable harm” from the deal to come and therefore can’t fast track said suit as WB continues finalizing its deal with Netflix. He’s not giving up, though, as he’s now looking to rally European support to continue his efforts.
For those not keeping track at home, Ellison’s tried at least a dozen times now (again, at the time of writing) to convince Warner Bros.’ shareholders to let Paramount be the one to acquire it. And each time, those shareholders have told him in no uncertain terms their eyes are on Netflix and his offers are no good. Whether that’s the actual reason or there’s some lingering beef from last year’s war over South Park streaming rights, getting WB has become Ellison’s white whale, his hill to die on in the hopes of gaining near-total control over middle America on the entertainment and news level.
Ellison is clearly not above using his family connections and ameliorating federal interest to get the deals he wants—that’s already been cause for concern in how Paramount’s been going; it’s understandable there are corners of Hollywood that fear the same is happening with his desperation for WB. More than the unrestricted access to hundreds of IPs, new and old, he wants CNN as a means of making himself look worthwhile to U.S. president Trump and twisting another legacy news outlet into a vessel for ego stroking and appeasement.
In a just, better world, Warner Bros. would look at its successful run of films in 2025 and declare itself not for sale at all, actually. After five years of being jerked around by different parent companies and rebranding itself 80 times, it certainly could’ve used the back half of the 2020s using that momentum to get back to what it does best. There is no legitimate reason for either Paramount or Netflix to own it; monopolies are bad, corporate interference is worse, and like many studios, WB has been at its best when it gets out of its own way.
Instead, we’re all forced to watch a man with more money than he needs and who owns one of Hollywood’s biggest studios fail to repeat his “success.” This is all so many things at once: it’s predictable (and scary) that Ellison’s looking to make his mark on the world just by buying as much of the entertainment industry as possible, just as it’s darkly hilarious that he’s managed to torch CBS News and 60 Minutes but can’t seal the deal here. Were this a recurring gag on a season of TV like The Studio or 30 Rock, it might be an entertaining one to watch him get slapped down each time he goes to WB’s shareholders.
But this isn’t a TV show; it’s real life, and it’s just dumb that this is all happening. Corporate acquisitions have always been bad, and since the Disney-Fox merger, they’ve become a spectacle unto themselves, from announcing that discussions have been had to the eye-rollingly cringe celebratory video when the deal is completed. By now, we know there’s no real “magic” to come out of these, just layoffs and exhaustion. Whoever ultimately gets Warner Bros., Paramount’s dogged pursuit of the studio makes all this more exhausting than usual—and unfortunately, it’s likely to inspire other corps to not take multiple “no’s” for an answer.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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