Netflix Says It Will Keep Warner Bros. Movies in Theaters—Just Maybe Not For as Long

In case you haven’t heard, Netflix will officially buy Warner Bros. Discovery for just under $83 billion, taking the latter’s video game division with it, likely forever changing the entertainment industry. But one pressing question on everyone’s lips, meme posting through these drip-fed developments, is what’s gonna happen to theatrical releases under the red streamer’s adverse direction—apparently not much… for now.

In a conference call with investors and press (which Variety attended and reported), Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos echoed an earlier sentiment he had shared, reaffirming that the streamer will continue to honor Warner Bros. Discovery’s longstanding contractual agreement for big-screen theatrical releases. However, the other shoe, in freefall, with Sarandos echoing his earlier sentiment, is that the way theatrical runs for Warner Bros. films will “evolve,†namely by being shorter.

“It’s not like we have this opposition to movies into theaters,†Sarandos said. “My pushback has been mostly in the fact of the long exclusive windows, which we don’t really think are that consumer friendly, but when we talk about keeping HBO operating, largely as it is, that also includes their output movie deal with Warner Bros., which includes a life cycle that starts in the movie theater, which we’re going to continue to support.â€

He continued: “I wouldn’t look at this as a change in approach for Netflix movies or for Warner movies. I think, over time, the windows will evolve to be much more consumer-friendly, to be able to meet the audience where they are quicker… I’d say right now, you should count on everything that is planned on going to the theater through Warner Bros. will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros., and Netflix movies will take the same strides they have, which is, some of them do have a short run in the theater beforehand. But our primary goal is to bring first-run movies to our members, because that’s what they’re looking for.â€

When my first viewing of Man of Tomorrow is interrupted by another unskippable ad because I couldn’t afford the standard Netflix plan then what pic.twitter.com/XFVrD2xstE

— Jack (-_•) (@captaincupkicks) December 5, 2025

While the above is sure to bring a sigh of relief from your resident film bro on the verge of a conniption fit at the prospect of witnessing Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! or Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II after the Netflix bumper on a streaming platform instead of on a giant IMAX screen as God intended, it does give credence to that eerie feeling that the growing homogenized acquisition will inevitably make it so any future film that wasn’t in the can and with theatrical distributions in place before the deal will see a move toward smaller release windows. What better example than directors Rian Johnson and Guillermo del Toro taking it upon themselves to champion folks getting to see Wake Up Dead Man and Frankenstein in their limited-run theatrical screenings, creating a sense of artificial scarcity for what was once a normal phenomenon before being locked behind a Netflix subscription?

So for the time being, folks wondering when they’ll have to cut subscriptions from HBO Max and brace themselves for the inevitable price hike Netflix is sure to be cooking up in the interim can take solace in knowing that films won’t change drastically in the immediate wake of this Microsoft-Activision-Blizzard but for cinema-ass merger. Like a frog slowly boiling in a pot, the real “uh oh†moment will surely come later.

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.