But it feels like an enormous moment in both the past and future of the cinema age. Warner Bros has, since it was dreamed up by four Polish-American brothers in 1927, been a vital element of the United States ascension to superpower in the Twentieth Century. With the acquisition of Warner Bros, Netflix will have access to a century of extraordinary film-making, from the first ever talkie, The Jazz Singer (1927), through to the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series. The Warner Bros studio, in Burbank, offers tours for the dwindling number of tourists still enchanted by the history and make-believe of cinema. And the deal has far-reaching implications: Netflix is simply after Warner’s Bros and its streaming branch, HBO.

Source: The Irish Times December 06, 2025 06:26 UTC