One big Hollywood drama
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 December 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Warner Bros. Discovery - the revered studio behind Barbie and Casablanca - is up for sale. A bidding war has emerged between Netflix and Paramount. But could either acquisition change the film industry forever? And are these bids even legal?
This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory
Guests:
- Kevin Maher, chief film critic, The Times.
- Louisa Clarence-Smith, US business editor, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Producers: Harry Stott, Olivia Case, Shabnam Grewal.
Read more: Why Trump is really getting involved with the Warner Bros saga
Further listening: Has Hollywood run out of ideas?
Clips: Barbie / Great Gerwig / Warner Bros, The Dark Knight / Christopher Nolan / Warner Bros, Casablanca / Michael Curtiz / Warner Bros, Hamnet / Chloe Zhao / Universal Pictures, The Searchers / John Ford / Warner Bros, Dune / Denis Villeneuve / Warner Bros, Joker / Tod Phillips / Warner Bros, Beasts of No Nation / Cary Joji Fukunaga / Netflix, Warner bros intro / Max Steiner, House of Cards / Netflix, Sex Education / Netflix, WSJ, NBC.
Photo: Getty Images.
Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story. |
| 0:05.0 | I'm Manvien Rana. |
| 0:07.0 | It's the sound that launched a thousand movies, |
| 0:27.8 | the signature theme of the legendary film studio behind blockbusters like this. |
| 0:33.3 | I don't have anything they planned, just a giant blowout party with all the Barbies and planned choreography and a bespoke song. |
| 0:38.2 | You should stop by. |
| 0:39.4 | So cool. |
| 0:40.4 | And this. |
| 0:42.0 | Let's put a smile on that face. |
| 0:47.4 | And this. |
| 0:50.8 | Of all the gin joints and all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine. |
| 1:01.0 | But now, Warner Brothers' discovery is on the verge of a takeover, and it's a big deal. |
| 1:12.8 | Even the president's getting involved. |
| 1:14.9 | I have a very big market chair, and when they have Warner Brothers, you know, that chair goes up a lot. |
| 1:20.2 | So I don't know, that's going to be for some economists to tell. |
| 1:23.6 | And also, and I'll be involved in that decision. |
| 1:25.9 | He came up. |
| 1:27.8 | Netflix, the world's biggest streaming giant, |
| 1:31.2 | and Paramount, a rival studio, |
| 1:33.8 | are both vying to buy Warner Brothers. |
| 1:36.8 | But some in Hollywood are worried that any sale |
| 1:39.8 | could spell the end of a creative force in cinema |
... |
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