At the Red Sea Film Festival, filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, who recently released his peroid NYC-set comedic crime capper “Caught Stealing,” during an appearance at the event was directly asked to comment about his thoughts on the recent industry-shaking news that Netflix has closed a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (in the wake of a hostile takeover attempt by David Ellison‘s Paramount Skydance).
“I have not digested it yet…It’s such brand new news. My sense is it’s not going to be a smooth road. I caught a few headlines today. It feels like everyone’s freaking out about it. I don’t want to comment on it because I just don’t understand any of it, and it’s very easy to fall into rally points right now. The only thing I’d say is it’s always good to have more buyers. Anytime there is consolidation, it’s bad. We already only have a limited amount of buyers.”
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“When you want to make a TV show or a movie, you send it out to everyone, and you hope a few of them get hungry for it and get a bidding war of some type that gives you what you need to make a piece of art. Having one less player is always bad. That’s a bummer,” Aronofsky said of Netflix’s acquisition of WBD at the Red Sea Film Festival (via Variety).
Netflix still needs to get government approval, and it doesn’t sound like WBD is interested in entertaining Ellison’s offer (that has the backing of the Saudi fund, other Middle Eastern countries, President Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and a Chinese company aligned with that country’s government/military), so buckle up for a potential messy fight, mostly taking place in the media.
Notably, Aronofsky’s relationship with Warner Bros. isn’t exactly deep, as they really only distributed his fantastical drama “The Fountain” starring Hugh Jackman and ex-wife Rachel Weisz. However, the sentiment isn’t any less on-the-spot or relevant, as filmmakers like him rely heavily on having a certain amount of studio buyers out there willing to pick up completed films or bankroll would-be productions.
Taking Warner Bros. off the chessboard as an industry suitor and buyer (Netflix would likely take on that main role moving forward wth their film chief Dan Lin possibly working alongside WB’s Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, that’s if those two stick around when the dust settles) to potentially start up a pipeline of direct-to-streaming films, isn’t exactly going to mean you’ll see more movies in theaters. The concerns and depressed attitude shared by Darren Aronofsky aren’t coming out of left field, that’s for sure.
Christopher Marc is lead writer at The Playlist and the primary engine behind our daily news coverage. Chris is based in Canada and tracks everything from Marvel and Star Wars developments to arthouse acquisitions and festival buzz with equal enthusiasm and an instinct for the story readers actually want to read.
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