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“Wait a minute, you ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Those words, delivered by Al Jolson in 1927’s The Jazz Singer shocked the world and changed cinema forever. Although sound had been part of movies in some form or another almost from the beginning of moving pictures, The Jazz Singer was the first feature-length film with synchronized sound and partial speech. The Jazz Singer was so cutting-edge that Warner Bros had to specially install unique equipment to show it. So even though, as film historian Scott Eyman recounts in his book The Speed of Sound, the Warner brothers “spent $500,000 on a film that can be shown in precisely two theaters,” it proved to be a revolution, forever changing the way we watch movies.
And now, Warner Brothers is going to change the way we watch movies again. And probably not for the better. As Deadline reported, Netflix has made the winning bid for Warner Bros., beating out rivals Paramount and Comcast. Now, the studio that revolutionized the theatrical experience may not make movies for theaters at all.
Warner Bros.’ decline has been a long time coming. While the studio has produced amazing films—including Sinners, Superman, and One Battle After Another in 2025 alone—it also came as current CEO David Zaslav either sold off or outright buried films from its signature DC and Loony Tunes franchises, while also removing entries from its back catalogue and threatening to shutter TCM, the most reliable source for classic cinema. In its place, Zaslav prioritized reality programming, filling HBO Max with cooking shows and remodeling programs.
But even before Zaslav’s tenure, the studio made major mistakes. During the pandemic, Warner Bros. refused to hold major releases until theaters reopened, releasing them to Max (as the streaming service was called at the time, which was a whole debacle in itself) the same day they released in cinemas. The move alienated filmmakers who wanted to work with the legendary studio, and ultimately cost them the allegiance of Christopher Nolan, who had previously enjoyed a good relationship with WB.
Given the recent problems with Warner Bros., one might think it’s a good thing for someone else to take over. But cinephiles have good reason to fear Netflix. Although the streamer has assured audiences that they would retain WB’s current theatrical release commitments, Netflix has been open in its distaste for the theatrical experience. Earlier this year, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said that it was “outmoded” to make movies for theaters, and bizarrely suggested that people who do not live in major metropolises like Manhattan cannot go to the cinema.
Netflix hasn’t been particularly careful with its own catelogue either. As the world’s most popular streaming service, Netflix plays a de facto curitorial role in film preservation. And yet, the service has almost no classic movies, and its vast selection barely goes past the 1980s. One look at Netflix’s “Classics” tab reveals “old” movies like The Karate Kid, Night of the Living Dead, and Scarface… not the one from 1932.
Which means, of course, The Jazz Singer isn’t on Netflix. And with Netflix acquiring Warner Bros., they have little reason to change their model by suddenly caring about classic films and the theatrical experience. The words “You ain’t seen nothing yet” take on a sad, ironic meaning.
The post The Studio That Made Talking Pictures a Thing Now Owned By Netflix appeared first on Den of Geek.
