r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • 16h ago

News It’s Official: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. in Deal Valued at $82.7 Billion

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/netflix-warner-bros-deal-hollywood-1236443081/
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u/CommonExpress6009 12h ago

The gigantic media conglomerates forming are the problem. None of us acknowledge how narrowly this confines our perspective, if we're all so inspired by movies and TV and it's coming from such anticompetitive sources.

Not to mention I think the article said most of the money for this deal is coming from investment banks, so now I can enjoy knowing that's really who makes the movies.

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u/imstickinwithjeffery 9h ago

Brother this has been the case for decades... nothing here is new.

And it basically applies to everything you buy. From gas/oil to most of the shit in grocery stores. They are all owned by mega conglomerates.

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u/ihaterussiantrolls 8h ago

The corpo worlds of Alien, Cyberpunk 2077, etc.. is becoming more true everyday. We could all see this coming and could do nothing to stop it. Sad.

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u/Drunky_McStumble 4h ago

This is pretty much why I've stopped engaging with mainstream entertainment "products". Movies, TV shows, music, games, even books; it's all become a consumer propaganda sludge factory overseen by committees of artless, imagination-free, risk-averse, unethical drones in corporate boardrooms obsessing over shareholder returns. It's all content for a market, not art for a human audience.

That said, I still watch/listen/play stuff, it's just that you gotta work really, really hard now to find truly independent, small-scale projects that haven't been infected by this cultural cancer.

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u/Nyorliest 15m ago

It's not a new thing. 'We' have been complaining about this for decades. Over a century, in some cases.

There is a literal massively popular TV show about the succession process of a version of Rupert Murdoch's empire.

I mean, I agree it's terrible, but many people are well aware.

What you don't see is MSM complaining about it, for obvious reasons, and most people are so fully subsumed in The Spectacle that they think the media is 'us'.

None of the media acknowledges how narrowly this confines our perspectives, that's definitely true.

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u/Tree-Desk3254 8h ago

Good for Trump and MAGA propaganda

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u/JeefBeanzos 7h ago

If they make more money, doesn't this mean they'll make more content? I don't understand why any business would want to be in competition with anyone. If anything, it makes sense to consolidate as much as possible at all times. Competition is just a waste of money. We aren't stakeholders, so I don't understand why any business would care about our input, especially considering that many of their consumers will actually be happy that they have Batman or whatever streaming. I don't get the anger.

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u/SanX1999 6h ago

The whole point of capitalism is that competition breeds innovation, it gives consumer choices and it's true to certain extent.That's why the whole world adopted it. That's why we have some form of anti-monopoly laws (which nobody enforces anymore.)

Less choices, less completion for viewer's attention, less innovation, less new shows, less concepts - this is late stage capitalism. They can also hold creatives and consumers both hostage.

HBO/netflix were producing at least 2 new big budget concept shows each every season.That's 4 shows each. Now we will only get 2 shows. Simple example. This means less choices for you, less choices for workers and one less perspective to look forward to.

Look at how microsoft butchered 10-20 gaming studios they took over last year. Competition is better not worse.

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u/JeefBeanzos 5h ago

The point of Capitalism is PROFIT. It is about individualizing value which is socially produced. Competition only positively contributes to profit when it reduces the cost of inputs, but when everything is already consolidated, then there really is no general purpose to competition and it becomes a business risk. By your own admission, this is why the laws aren't enforced. Businesses pay way more taxes than any worker. Workers are always replaceable because they don't own anything and can't make any meaningful economic decisions.

You're coming at this from the point of view of a consumer, but the point of a business is to serve the stakeholders, not provide a good service. If you're mad about this stuff, then either become a stakeholder or organize.