The traditional studio model in Hollywood was completely upended when Disney purchased 20th Century Fox in a mammoth $71.3 billion deal, with the Mouse House’s takeover of the competition reducing the six major production houses to a ‘Big Five.’ Out of the quintet, Sony are the only outfit that don’t also have at least one in-house streaming service at their disposal, meaning they’ll either need to create one or start leasing out their biggest properties for other companies to make content if they don’t want to be left behind.
As the first streamer to secure MPAA membership, Netflix are unofficially regarded by industry analysts as the sixth premiere studio, and they’ve got the volume of content to back it up. The platform’s top brass are keen to establish the company as a force to be reckoned with, and they’ve certainly been doing just that looking at the critical acclaim and string of awards season nominations racked up by exclusive movies and TV shows.
Insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that Netflix are also looking to buy another studio, in order to consolidate their position at the top table. We can probably instantly rule out Disney, Sony, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros. from that particular conversation should it be one that ends up happening, but there are still more than a few potential candidates.
MGM were reportedly looking for a buyer last year, and they boast over 4,000 titles in the back catalogue and assets valued at upwards of $5 billion. The other so-called ‘mini-majors’ are Lionsgate, Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners and STX Entertainment, with the Danish Nordisk Film and German Clasart Film the only two non-Hollywood entities that fit the bill. While it’s all just speculation at this stage, Netflix swallowing some of the competition hardly stretches the limits of credibility at this point.
Published: Mar 6, 2021 10:53 am