Netflix is officially buying Warner Bros., after Warner Bros. Discovery entertained bids from various suitors, including Paramount Sydance Corp. News of the Netflix and WBD acquisition was confirmed on December 5, with the streaming giant using a mixture of cash and stocks to buy the for-sale studio for approximately $82.7 billion.
While the deal is not expected to close until late 2026 or even early 2027, the results of the acquisition will have a sizable impact on Warner Bros. movies. The studio has been around for just over 100 years and is responsible for releasing some of the biggest movies every year, some of the best-reviewed Oscar contenders, and, of course, plenty of TV shows on HBO.
So, what does it mean for Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. exactly? Here’s a current look at what we know about WB’s upcoming movie slate, Netflix’s theatrical release plans, and more.
All Of Warner Bros.’s Upcoming Movies
Warner Bros. has dozens of movies with confirmed release dates, and countless others in various stages of development. Here are all the WB movies releasing in 2026:
- Wuthering Heights — February 13
- The Bride! — March 6
- They Will Kill You — March 27
- The Mummy — April 17
- Mortal Kombat II — May 8
- Animal Friends — June 5
- Supergirl — June 26
- Cut Off — July 17
- Evil Dead Burn — July 24
- Flowervale Street — August 14
- Coyote vs. Acme — August 28
- Clayface — September 11
- Practical Magic 2 — September 18
- Untitled Alejandro G. Iñárritu/Tom Cruise film — October 2
- Remain — October 23
- The Cat in the Hat — November 6
- Dune: Part Three — December 18
Here’s every Warner Bros. movie with confirmed release dates in 2027 or 2028
- Untitled DC Studios film — March 5, 2027
- Godzilla x Kong: Supernova — March 26, 207
- F.A.S.T. — April 23, 2027
- Bad Fairies — May 21, 2027
- Untitled DC Studios film — June 18, 2027
- Man of Tomorrow — July 9, 2027
- A Minecraft Movie 2 — July 23, 2027
- The Batman – Part II — October 1, 2027
- Margie Claus — November 5, 2027
- Gremlins 3 — November 19, 2027
- The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum — December 17
- Oh, the Places You’ll Go! — March 17, 2028
- Dynamic Duo — June 30, 2028
- The Hello Kitty Movie — July 21, 2028
- The Lunar Chronicles — November 3, 2028
Netflix Will Release Warner Bros. Movies In Theaters… For Now
One of the big worries with Netflix buying Warner Bros. is the possibility that all the studio’s movies could stop playing in theaters, especially in wide releases. Netflix typically only gives Oscar contenders a release in theaters, as they did with Frankenstein and Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery this year. But, those movies only play on the big screen for a short time and in limited theater counts.
For now, Netflix is saying that it will not take WB movies out of theaters. Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said, “But I’d say that right now you should count on everything that has planned on going to the theaters through Warner Bros. will continue to go to the theaters through Warner Bros,” in an interview after the deal was announced.
That might sound good, but it’s layered with careful particularities. Netflix isn’t committing to releasing every Warner Bros. movie in theaters forever, even films that are currently in development. He’s suggesting that movies with a confirmed theatrical release date are safe from losing that mode of release entirely and winding up on Netflix exclusively.
But Sarandos has also given himself and Netflix lots of wiggle room with this approach. He’s saying that is the plan “right now,” implying that this could change. It likely will. Sarandos said earlier this year at the Time100 Summit that the theatrical experience is “outdated” and that modern audience tendencies don’t align with this method of release.
Sarandos and Netflix need to keep shareholders, Wall Street, and more happy as they work to close this deal and get regulatory approval. Saying that things like release formats won’t change is one way to do that. Netflix is still more than capable of altering plans and rerouting films planned for theaters to the streaming service.
Netflix Will Shrink Theatrical Windows On Warner Bros. Movies
The one area that Sarandos has already confirmed will change for WB movies released in theaters is the exclusive windows in which they play. Without revealing specifics about the timing, the CEO confirmed that they’ll look to shrink theatrical windows once they take control. This is because at Netflix, they view longer exclusive windows as an anti-consumer-friendly approach.
Sarandos said in the wake of the announcement, “I think over time the windows will evolve to be much more consumer friendly … to meet the audience where they are.”
For reference, Warner Bros. movies released in 2025 have had a roughly 77-day exclusive theatrical window before debuting on streaming (with them all going to HBO Max first). Netflix will likely aim to cut this window in half or more.
This conclusion comes from Sarandos’ own words pre-WB deal. At the Time100 Summit, he argued that even a 45-day window is too long and unnecessary given the current box office climate:
“What does that say? What is the consumer trying to tell us? That they’d like to watch movies at home, thank you. The studios and the theaters are duking it out over trying to preserve this 45-day window that is completely out of step with the consumer experience of just loving a movie.”
If Sarandos believes that having a movie in theaters for 45 days exclusively is too long, then WB’s 77-day on average window is definitely not going to fly long-term. It’s worth noting that WB movies do go to digital after 32 days on average, so Netflix could bypass that option and make the films directly available on the streaming service at that time instead.
In any case, WB movies will not keep long theatrical windows once the Netflix deal officially goes through. The question is just how short and limited the theatrical releases are for those titles that do stay in theaters.
What Warner Bros. Movies Could Become Netflix Streaming Originals
However, Netflix is not likely to look at every upcoming Warner Bros. movie in the same way. Fans of major franchises like Dune, the DC Universe, Minecraft, Lord of the Rings, or even the Monsterverse should not have any fear that new installments would bypass theaters entirely. Netflix might favor streaming over theaters overall, but this level of IP has a built in box office haul that even the streamer won’t want to give up on.
Blockbusters will stay in theaters, but just about everything else will probably fall to Netflix over time. All the 2026 movies should be safe from any tinkering, leaving titles for 2027, 2028, and beyond more in jeopardy of losing theatrical release plans and debuting only on Netflix.
The streamer could look at movies like F.A.S.T. (an original action/thriller from Taylor Sheridan) as one such opportunity. Melissa McCarthy’s upcoming Christmas movie Margie Claus could also be viewed as a key holiday release that would do numbers on Netflix. Even riskier franchise plays like Gremlins 3 could fall out of theatrical plans.
More broadly speaking, we can probably count on any drama or rom-com going to Netflix instead. Horror movies not tied to IP could also find themselves left out of theaters. For example, WB’s 2025 movies Companion and The Alto Knights probably wouldn’t have gotten theatrical releases under Netflix’s leadership.
Will Netflix Ever Completely Take WB Movies Out Of Theaters?
The darkest outcome of this whole deal is that Netflix could one day cease releasing any Warner Bros. movies in theaters. The streamer is saying all the right things about that now, but there is still a worry that this could be the long-term play. By acquiring a studio with so much recognizable IP, Netflix has a ton of new avenues to bolster its streaming library with old classics and new takes on material audiences love.
Proper theatrical releases are not what Netflix is known for. It’s an entire side of the business that they’ve never seriously explored. All the assets that come with buying Warner Bros. make it easier for them to get in that game and expand its reach in that market. But, Netflix has always viewed theaters as its competition.
If they were to then stop releasing any WB movies in theaters, it would be a huge blow to exhibitors and the overall health of the box office. Just as Netflix killed Blockbuster, it could look to further weaken the theatrical market and get audiences more accustomed to seeing all types of movies at home.
Hopefully, that will never happen. It almost seems unimaginable to fully consider as a possibility. Then again, it wasn’t that long ago that Netflix buying Warner Bros. would’ve fallen under the same category.
