Mandalit Delbarco

Yeah, so Netflix beat out its deep-pocketed competitors, Paramount, Skydance, and Comcast, the cable company that also owns Universal Pictures.

And Tuesday night, my editor and I were at the Netflix holiday party.

We saw co-CEO Ted Sarandos looking especially happy.

And by Friday morning, he broke the news to investors.

And, you know, Ted Sarandos said the merger made sense, that Netflix and Warner Brothers complement each other.

Well, you know, if this deal is finalized and approved, Netflix is getting a lot.

Basically, the crown jewels of a century-old Hollywood studio and its intellectual properties.

I mean, Warner Brothers is known for its classic films like Casablanca, its Looney Tunes cartoons.

Harry Potter films and even its TV shows like Game of Thrones.

And all of that will belong to Netflix now, along with a library that includes The Wizard of Oz and DC Comics with superheroes Batman and Superman.

But one note here is that some of Warner Brothers cable channels like CNN are not part of this deal.

Well, theater owners are very worried about this mega deal.

In fact, Cinema United, the trade organization representing thousands of theaters around the world,

It says it opposes the deal.

And they say that 25% of the annual domestic box office could disappear if Warner Brothers movies go straight to the streaming platform.

That's been Netflix's business model.

James Cameron, the director, he's always urging people to watch movies in the theaters.

Well, last week before the deal was made, he speculated about what would happen.

Here he is on the podcast, The Town.

So Ted Sarandos says he'll continue to open movies and theaters, but for how long before they're streamed on Netflix?