The US$82.7 billion acquisition of Hollywood’s gigantic content producer Warner Bros Discovery by Netflix, announced last December, has shown how the dragon-slayer can become the dragon. Netflix is vying to own Warner Bros films, TV studios, HBO and IP properties like Harry Porter and Game of Thrones. Since it was established in 1997, Netflix has challenged Hollywood’s distribution system dominated by the theater chain system and studio power. With an algorithm-centered and globally-targeted subscription system, Netflix was among the first to create binge watching when it streamed its first big hit House of Cards in 2011. Its cooperation with the South Korean film industry spearheaded global content production. But over the past three years, without exponential growth, Netflix has increasingly transformed into a traditional film producer, a shift best evidenced by this potential acquisition.
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