Involved in one of the most important media deals of the century, WarnerBros and Netflix () are, as might be expected, among the protagonists in the Oscar nominations. Productions with the participation of both houses in the industry’s main award and can serve to explain what is behind the acquisition.
With “Sinners”, WarnerBros broke the record for nominations for a film in the history of the awards by competing in 16 categories and was the seventh highest-grossing film in American cinemas in 2025. “One Battle After Another” and “F1”, distributed by the studio, were among the 30 most watched films of the year in the country.
The mix between box office successes and awards gives an idea of the reasons why Netflix proposed to buy Warner for US$82.7 billion. Data from the Engagement Report for the second half of 2025 showed that Netflix subscribers watched 96 billion hours of content, an increase of 2% year-on-year and 1% compared to the first half.
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In the market, some investors believe that one of the reasons behind Warner’s arrival in Netflix’s portfolio is to add intellectual properties that are more capable of changing indicators. The company, however, has argued that the total hours watched is not an adequate metric to measure user engagement on the platform.
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“We have the variety of plans, subscription time, geography, cultural differences are an important factor,” said Netflix co-CEO, Greg Peters, in a video call with investors last Tuesday (20). He cites the example of Japan, a market with greater growth potential for the company where, however, the number of hours of television watched is lower compared to the United States. “This skews viewing hours per member.”
The streaming platform does not hide that the acquisition of Warner’s intellectual properties could accelerate its strategy of “more and better” productions, but says it believes in organic growth, without the contribution of mergers and acquisitions.
Recently, the co-CEO of Netflix, Ted Sarandos, seems to have put an end to the main fear of the exhibition chain against the acquisition of Warner by Netflix by stating that he does not intend to reduce the exhibition window time for the studio’s theatrical releases.
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Former critic of the traditional exhibition model, Sarandos to the point that, in an interview with New York Times last week confirmed that it would maintain the 45-day cinema window currently maintained by the studio.
The strategy is diametrically opposed to that of the technology company’s launches — including those most celebrated at awards shows such as the Oscars themselves. “Frankenstein”, Netflix’s only competitor for the “Best Film” award, had a limited release of three weeks in theaters, an even generous window considering the company’s strategies for its more cinematic releases.
But the result, at least in theaters, is sensitive: While “Sinners”, “F1” and “One Battle After Another” totaled almost US$541 million at the United States box office, “Frankenstein” does not even appear on the list of highest grossing films of 2025 by Box Office Mojo.
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For Netflix, what really matters are subscriptions to its platform, not box office, of course. The increase in customers in 2025 was 8% and the company projects high investments in new projects for this year after spending around US$18 billion on programming last year.
The results presented by the company for 2025, however, did not encourage the market. Since Tuesday, the shares have fallen 7% against a reading that .
