Netflix’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros has prompted a wave of existential reflection for the international film industry. But for the UK film industry, the practical impacts could be considerable.
While the ink may not be dry on the deal, with Paramount Skydance throwing in a few curveballs and Warner Bros’ shareholders still to have their say on their preferred option, the December 17 statement from Warner Bros’ board rejecting Paramount’s offer provided further clarity on what the direction of travel is likely to be. Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters have even taken a very public tour of the Warner Bros lot in Los Angeles, hosted by Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
With Netflix’s $82.7bn offer comes the promise of $2-3bn of cost savings per year by the third year. In the UK, where both Netflix and Warner Bros have huge teams spanning production, marketing, PR, distribution, studio facilities, commissioning and legal, job losses are going to be inevitable.
On a wider scale, Screen looks at the initial questions the UK film industry is asking in the early days of what could be a whole new era.
Will Netflix give Warner Bros films a full theatrical release?
If and how Netflix will honour Warner Bros’ theatrical legacy is the question on everyone’s lips. Netflix has said it remains “deeply committed” to Warner Bros’ theatrical model, but what that will actually look like in the long term is unclear. The messages are so far mixed: on one hand, Sarandos described theatrical viewing as “an outmoded idea, for most people” in April, but in mid-December turned up in Paris at Canal+’s 2026 slate showcase to affirm the streamer will honour France’s full theatrical window for Warner Bros titles, seemingly beyond the short term.
Cinemas are still on uncertain footing and Warner Bros titles have been integral to keeping the lights on. In 2025, these have included A Minecraft Movie (£56.9m gross in UK-Ireland), Superman (£28.1m) and Apple Original F1 The Movie (£22.4m), which Warner Bros released on the streamer’s behalf.
The acquisition could also have a big impact on local distributors. Altitude has typically booked films into cinemas on behalf of Netflix in the territory for a fixed fee per film. Will Netflix now run all of its – albeit already limited – theatrical releases through Warner Bros?
Warner Bros also provides some muscle for modestly sized distributors to scale up theatrical releases, as was the case with Picturehouse for Pillion, which has now grossed nearly £1m in the territory through a joint Picturehouse-Warner Bros release. Will such partnerships be part of the new Warner Bros era?
If Netflix does decide to collapse the theatrical window for Warner Bros films, will Bafta stand its ground on its own windowing rules for awards qualification? For best film, currently, films must be theatrically exhibited publicly for the first time to a paying audience on at least 50 commercial screens in the UK for at least seven days, or achieve the equivalent of at least 350 screenings. Will Bafta come under pressure from a joint Netflix-Warner Bros behemoth to add more leniency to these requirements?
Will UK film commissioning increase?
Netflix’s model of acquiring the IP rights from producers for a flat fee and taking away their opportunity for possible upsides from future box office or pay-TV deals is different from that of Warner Bros, where producers can expect to see positive returns from a film’s success. For producers, an expansion of the kinds of deals Netflix offers in the market is unnerving.
Netflix has already pulled back on its film commissioning in the UK in recent years, with only a handful of features coming out of the UK team, including Edward Berger’s Ballad Of A Small Player, Kate Winslet’s Goodbye June and the Peaky Blinders feature adaptation.
Former director of Film4 Ollie Madden joined Netflix as head of UK film in October, which signalled a glimmer of hope that it was set to ramp up its interest in the territory. But what Madden’s remit is at Netflix UK, and whether that will expand if the Warner Bros acquisition goes through, remains to be seen.
Will a merged Netflix-WB reduce the amount of film and TV that is shot in the UK?
Warner Bros is a major source of inward film and TV spend in the UK. Warner Bros productions to shoot in the UK in 2025 include features Clayface, Wuthering Heights and Practical Magic 2, as well as the Harry Potter series.
There are concerns over what the merging of the two companies will mean going forward for this income stream, particularly during Netflix’s announcement of the acquisition on December 5, when the company wrote of its plans “to significantly expand US production capacity”.
UK crew will certainly be hoping the Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros does not decrease the volume of production flowing through the UK, with the horrors of the 2023 Hollywood strike-induced downturn still fresh for those who didn’t leave the industry completely. Netflix will also have to decide what it will do with Warner Bros’ CrewHQ, a film and TV crew training development scheme running at Leavesden since 2023.
How will a merged Leavesden, Shepperton, Longcross and De Lane Lea work together?
Netflix’s studio footprint in the UK is already substantial, currently leasing a hub at Shepperton (understood to be on a 10-year agreement, which started in 2019) from Pinewood and Longcross Studios from Aviva Investors.
Netflix will be adding Leavesden to its roster, which Warner Bros bought in 2010. If Netflix sticks with its current lease agreements, it will be operating out of three studios, all within 30 miles of each other. There is also the question of what Netflix might do with Warner Bros’ sound mixing and post-production facility, De Lane Lea, located in central London.
What will happen to the UK launch of HBO Max?
Warner Bros Discovery announced streaming service HBO Max was to launch in UK-Ireland in March 2026, revealed just a few days before word broke of the Netflix-Warner Bros deal. As the Netflix deal is still not set in stone, with the shareholders’ responses and possible regulatory hurdles ahead, it is understood that for now HBO Max’s launch will go ahead as planned. It will be the home of prestigious IP, including The Sopranos, Game Of Thrones, The White Lotus and Sex And The City, previously available on Comcast-owned streaming platform Now.
It was expected that the Harry Potter TV series, which was filmed at Warner Bros Leavesden, would launch on HBO Max in 2027, and run on it for around a decade. But will Netflix let such a major franchise show live anywhere other than its crown jewel platform? How long would Netflix objectively allow HBO Max to operate in a key market like the UK as a competitive platform?
How will the UK broadcasters respond?
Could now be a time to open up discussions again about Project Kangaroo? The joint video-on-demand project was proposed by the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 in 2008, but was canned after the UK government’s Competition Commission (now known as the Competition and Markets Authority) blocked the proposal. But with the UK’s public service broadcasters more exposed than ever to the might of the US streamers, it might be time to revive that concept – or has the moment passed?
Is Netflix going to add tourism to its portfolio?
Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making Of Harry Potter has surpassed $1bn in revenues since opening in 2012. Will Netflix go for full dominance in this lucrative area of tourism, now that it will have this expertise in-house? Might a Bridgerton studio tour be coming soon in Bath, or a Wednesday world opening up in Ireland? The possibilities, now, look seemingly endless.
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