Christopher Nolan Weighs In on Warner Bros. Future as DGA Sounds Alarm Over Industry Consolidation
The fight over who controls Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t just a corporate chess match anymore. It’s turning into a high-stakes moment for the future of Hollywood.
With Netflix and Paramount Skydance circling the legendary studio, Directors Guild of America president Christopher Nolan is stepping into the conversation and making it clear that filmmakers and crews have a lot on the line.
Just over a month after the DGA pledged to engage with any company looking to acquire Warner Bros., Nolan confirmed that union leadership has already sat down with both Netflix and Paramount. The goal isn’t to pick favorites. It’s to understand what each potential owner would actually do with a studio that’s been a pillar of the industry for a century.
“I don’t really want to speak to the specifics of the conversations we’ve had, but publicly you’ve seen a shift from both companies to embrace, for example, theatrical windows, things like that,” Nolan told reporters during a recent interview. “I mean, there are encouraging noises, but that’s not the same as commitment.”
That word, commitment, is doing a lot of work here. Nolan stressed that while the ideal outcome would be Warner Bros. continuing as an independent buyer and distributor, the DGA is also grounded in reality and evaluating what’s actually possible.
On the business side, Netflix has already adjusted its agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery into an all-cash deal, dropping stock options while still valuing the company’s assets at $27.75 per share.
Meanwhile, Skydance has teamed with Paramount in a hostile bid for the entire company, including its cable networks. Both scenarios have raised serious concerns about consolidation and control.
Nolan described the meetings with both companies as “productive,” but added that ”we’re sort of in the thick of it” on breaking down what these deals would really mean.
The concerns aren’t identical for each suitor. With Netflix, the focus has largely been on theatrical distribution and whether big-screen releases would remain a priority. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has promised that Warner Bros. films would still hit theaters with a 45-day window, but that hasn’t fully settled the nerves of the guild.
On the Paramount Skydance side, critics have raised alarms about the Ellison family’s political ties and the possibility of them gaining control over CNN.
For Nolan, who has been deeply involved in DGA leadership for years and directed films like Interstellar, the bigger picture is impossible to ignore. More consolidation almost always means fewer jobs.
“A merger is going to mean loss of jobs. It’s going to mean consolidation. We all know that. We can all look at history to see that our interest right now is in trying to get to grips with, how can we try and ameliorate some of these concerns?
“How can we try and look at these companies and secure some kind of meaningful commitments from them, in terms of how to ensure that Warner Bros. — a fantastic, historic 100-year-old company with its incredible library, with its incredible employees — can see the best chance of survival and a potential to thrive,” Nolan explained.
“So, whether from Paramount, whether from Netflix, we’re interested in more about the specifics of how they get around these things, what consolidation will do, what the impacts on our members will be, and we’re deep in those conversations.”
One area where Nolan doesn’t hedge is theatrical exclusivity. He argues that the industry should be following the model set by Disney, which maintains a longer theatrical window for its releases.
“We strongly take the position that we need a 60-day theatrical window, such as Disney, who’s the most successful theatrical distributor. That’s what they do, and that’s what everybody should be doing.”
Nolan pointed out that theatrical releases remain a major financial backbone for guild members, especially when it comes to residuals that support health plans.
“When we analyze our residual space, the residuals from the licensing of theatrically released films is still our single largest category that contributes towards our health plan.”
Even so, theatrical windows are only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Television and streaming now account for a massive portion of member contributions, and that’s where many of the toughest questions remain unanswered.
“When you add up what our members contribute to television, obviously that’s the major part of it, and that’s where, in the shifting streaming landscape, a lot of the major issues are with the deal,” Nolan said.
“The reality is, we have very, very significant concerns about how this is all going to happen. It’s a very worrying time for the industry. The loss of a major studio is a huge blow.”
As the fate of Warner Bros. hangs in the balance, Nolan and the DGA aren’t looking for platitudes. They’re looking for guarantees that one of Hollywood’s most iconic studios will continue to create, employ, and thrive in an industry that’s already under enormous strain.
Source: Deadline