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    Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

    (www.cnbc.com)
    366 points gniting | 15 comments | 08 Dec 25 14:16 UTC | HN request time: 0.229s | source | bottom

    Previously: Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46160315 (1333 comments)
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    indigodaddy ◴[08 Dec 25 15:17 UTC] No.46193176[source]▶
    Does WB have to pay the breakup fee to Netflix if a Paramount hostile takeover succeeds?
    replies(6): >>46193410 #>>46193460 #>>46193494 #>>46193833 #>>46194214 #>>46194238 #
    JumpCrisscross ◴[08 Dec 25 15:38 UTC] No.46193494[source]▶
    It looks like it. $2.8bn by Warner Brothers to Netflix [1].

    If the vote looks close, Paramount would be expected to raise their bid to cover that cost.

    [1] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065280/000119312525... 8.3(a)

    replies(1): >>46198659 #
    dabockster ◴[08 Dec 25 22:42 UTC] No.46198659[source]▶
    The failed merger and similar clawback clause between Kroger and Albertsons is currently destroying a significant part of the supply chain for food in the Pacific Northwest. Grocery stores that have been open for 50-75 years - stores where whole neighborhoods and towns were built around - are closing forever, leaving those areas as food deserts.

    Either way, this entertainment merger is going to get ugly. Consumers are absolutely going to get harmed either way with that clawback clause.

    replies(8): >>46198767 #>>46198814 #>>46201847 #>>46201980 #>>46202080 #>>46202428 #>>46203666 #>>46205360 #
    thisisnotauser ◴[08 Dec 25 22:52 UTC] No.46198767[source]▶
    Except you need food to live and tv shows are an artificially scarce resource that's actually free to distribute in unlimited quantities, so the harm is very different.
    replies(1): >>46198928 #
    ClikeX ◴[08 Dec 25 23:07 UTC] No.46198928[source]▶
    Real people work in this industry, though. A merger of this size is bound to come with some layoffs and canceled projects.

    It's not as bad as food scarcity, of course. But it can do some collateral damage.

    replies(2): >>46198975 #>>46199478 #
    1. dabockster ◴[08 Dec 25 23:11 UTC] No.46198975[source]▶
    That, plus fewer studios mean less creativity goes to the mainstream. If you thought AI slop was bad, go re-watch Star Wars Episode 8.
    replies(4): >>46200071 #>>46200120 #>>46200426 #>>46202064 #
    2. raw_anon_1111 ◴[09 Dec 25 01:08 UTC] No.46200071[source]▶
    You will still have Amazon, Apple, Paramount, Disney, and NetMax spending billions each on content and streaming and Sony being the mercenary creating content for the highest bidder.

    WB under Discovery was already becoming an also ran and more financial engineering than a real company.

    3. AlexandrB ◴[09 Dec 25 01:15 UTC] No.46200120[source]▶
    Seems like a bad example. The problem with Episode 8 was not lack of creativity. Episode 7 was a complete retread of "A New Hope" and a bigger offender. At least blue Jedi milk is new.
    replies(1): >>46201228 #
    4. i80and ◴[09 Dec 25 02:00 UTC] No.46200426[source]▶
    I mean, 8 was easily the most functional of the new trilogy, if a somewhat overly ambitious muddle, so that's a bad example.

    There is a real problem with too many sequels and adaptations though.

    replies(2): >>46201979 #>>46204211 #
    5. bananaflag ◴[09 Dec 25 04:28 UTC] No.46201228[source]▶
    Episode 8 was a retread of Empire Strikes Back (ships chase through empty space while the main character trains with the old master on a wild planet). It seemed subversive just because ESB was subversive relative to ANH.
    replies(2): >>46202035 #>>46206112 #
    6. NBJack ◴[09 Dec 25 06:48 UTC] No.46201979[source]▶
    If 8 had followed through on its narrative promises, it would have had a chance. But unfortunately, much like a modern LLM that exceeds its context window, it lost its way in the final act.

    As for sequels, we are at a weird time in history. Due maybe in part just how prevalent media is and how easy (relatively) it is to create, we've been super-saturated in "like X but with Y" stories. We have dedicated websites mapping tropes. It's hard to come up with anything that hasn't been done a few million times. AI will probably accelerate that, and I can't say I know what comes next.

    7. NBJack ◴[09 Dec 25 06:56 UTC] No.46202035{3}[source]▶
    Complete with "this guy will help us" to "oh no, they betrayed us!"
    8. nake89 ◴[09 Dec 25 07:03 UTC] No.46202064[source]▶
    Me and my wife were Star Wars fans. The last Star Wars media we watched was episode 8. I almost walked out the theater.
    replies(3): >>46202939 #>>46203536 #>>46219579 #
    9. wooger ◴[09 Dec 25 09:16 UTC] No.46202939[source]▶
    I've watched and enjoyed Andor since, but yeah other than that zero star wars movies and TV shows since episode 8. I hear 9 was also hilariously bad, but I'll not ever bother seeing it.
    10. baq ◴[09 Dec 25 11:01 UTC] No.46203536[source]▶
    Star Wars is synonymous with Andor at this point. The original trilogy is second, but it isn't a close second.
    replies(1): >>46204089 #
    11. loloquwowndueo ◴[09 Dec 25 12:15 UTC] No.46204089{3}[source]▶
    Oh really? What’s Andor?
    replies(1): >>46204224 #
    12. phantasmish ◴[09 Dec 25 12:28 UTC] No.46204211[source]▶
    8 is at least the fourth best Star Wars movie.

    Maybe 3rd. Jedi is gorgeous but the script for everything past Jabba’s Palace is a mess. Doesn’t know what to do with all its characters, feels the need to have them all around anyway.

    13. baq ◴[09 Dec 25 12:30 UTC] No.46204224{4}[source]▶
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9253284/
    14. staticman2 ◴[09 Dec 25 15:40 UTC] No.46206112{3}[source]▶
    Episode 8 was subversive because it had self aware moments "trolling" the audience throughout like Luke mocking the idea Rey (and the audience) thought he would pick up a lightsaber again.

    It also has weird "subversive" dialogue about sacrifice being bad that doesn't really fit what's happening in the movie itself where sacrifice of two characters saves the day. Which is "subversive" in the sense that a movie with dialogue saying "this is a shitty movie plot" is subversive.

    It also rips off the ending of Return of the Jedi by killing the main bad guy so is "subversive" in that it trolls whoever was stuck making episode 9 without a functional villain.

    15. cornhole ◴[10 Dec 25 16:16 UTC] No.46219579[source]▶
    my biggest problem with episode 8 was that they freed the camels but not the camel jockey slave children