But the studio did not have much time to celebrate. Just as actors Marlon Wayans and Skye P. Marshall were calling the names of Golden Globe nominees at a news conference at the Beverly Hilton, Paramount launched a hostile takeover bid<\/a> for WBD valued at more than $108 billion.<\/p>\n WBD\u2019s board and shareholders are weighing competing offers for the studio from Netflix and Paramount. Meanwhile, voters in Hollywood are beginning their deliberations as award season ramps up. Many of the seven Hollywood insiders NBC News spoke with \u2014 including producers, marketers and former studio executives \u2014 said the looming media merger will shape votes for upcoming awards shows, including the Directors Guild Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the coveted Academy Awards.<\/p>\n \u201cThis deal is an emotional piece of news for a lot of people,\u201d said \u201cSilence of the Lambs\u201d producer Edward Saxon, a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and chair of the producing program at the University of Southern California\u2019s film school. \u201cThere\u2019s worry about consolidation and about the future of theatrical. The feeling is I don\u2019t get a vote on so much of what\u2019s happening in the industry right now. If I do have a vote on something, I\u2019m going to vote against consolidation.\u201d<\/p>\n Months of speculation about the future of WBD came to a head last week. On Friday, WBD\u2019s board agreed to sell<\/a> the company\u2019s film, TV and streaming assets to Netflix for $82.7 billion, sparking a backlash from Hollywood guilds, movie theater owners and politicians on both sides of the aisle over a deal they say would harm workers and consumers.<\/p>\n The deal came as something of a surprise. Paramount had been linked to WBD since September, and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters had publicly downplayed Netflix\u2019s interest<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some academy members say the possibility of Netflix\u2019s owning Warner Bros., one of the last five traditional movie studios in Hollywood, is cementing their aversion to its business model.<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t any love lost for Netflix in the industry right now,\u201d said a veteran academy member who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. \u201cThe industry feels like they\u2019re a TV company masquerading as a film company.\u201d <\/p>\n In a conference call with investors and the media Friday, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that Netflix has no \u201copposition to movies in theaters\u201d and that it would uphold Warner Bros.\u2019 existing theatrical agreements. But he also said that \u201cover time the [theatrical] windows will evolve.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday, Netflix was hit with a consumer lawsuit seeking to block the WBD acquisition on the grounds that it threatens to reduce competition. \u201cWe believe this suit is meritless and is merely an attempt by the plaintiffs bar to leverage all the attention on the deal,\u201d a Netflix spokesperson said. <\/p>\n Netflix has released 10 best picture nominees in its history, beginning with Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n’s \u201cRoma\u201d in 2019, but it has never won the film industry\u2019s biggest prize, in part because of an industry perception<\/a> that its business model has contributed to the decline of the theatrical movie business. <\/p>\n This year, the company has contenders in Guillermo del Toro\u2019s \u201cFrankenstein,\u201d the George Clooney vehicle \u201cJay Kelly\u201d and the animated musical sensation \u201cKPop Demon Hunters.\u201d <\/p>\n Some in Hollywood have defended Netflix from criticism, saying it has opened the door to more creative people. <\/p>\n \u201cThere are some people that only get their chance because of streamers,\u201d actor Joel Edgerton<\/a>, whose quiet drama \u201cTrain Dreams\u201d Netflix bought at Sundance last year, told Variety at the Gotham Awards in New York this month.<\/p>\n Other awards voters say they may give a boost to Warner Bros.\u2019 contending titles, Paul Thomas Anderson\u2019s \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d and Ryan Coogler\u2019s \u201cSinners.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a feeling of this year being the last hurrah for Warner,\u201d said another academy member, who requested anonymity so as not to offend Netflix. \u201cThere\u2019s sympathy for the people who work there and what they\u2019re going through. And the heads of the film studio [Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy] are well-loved.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Warner](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2025-12\/251208-ellison-zaslav-sarandos-split-jg-e43814.jpg\")