Ted Sarandos says James Cameron criticism of Warner Bros sale to Netflix is “disingenuous”
Ted Sarandos has fired back at James Cameron, who publicly criticised the provisional merger of Netflix and Warner Bros.Discovery.
Cameron previously criticised the controversial deal in a pleading letter to lawmakers, which he sent to Senator Mike Lee, chair of the Senate subcommittee on antitrust.
In the letter, he stated that the proposed deal would be “disastrous for the theatrical motion picture business that I have dedicated my life’s work to.”
He also added, “Theaters will close. Fewer films will be made. The job losses will spiral.”
Now, Netflix mogul Sarandos has responded to the criticism on BBC’s Today program, initially clarifying that his letter “doesn’t hurt,” rather, it was “quite confusing.”
He went on, “I had personally met with James on December 20th. We talked through our commitment to 45-day theatrical exclusivity for the Warner Brothers slate… of course, that’s what he does, that’s all he does… “
Sarandos continued of his relationship with the Titanic director, “We spent five minutes of our conversation on that, and we talked mostly about these glasses that he’s developing for Meta… To have him come with such an impassioned statement seems disingenuous.”
Whilst appearing on the British radio show, he also implored that the decision to merge the two companies makes sense, despite criticism from much of the industry.
He shared, “The best thing for our business is for people to love movies and television, and the best way to love movies is to watch them at home, in the theaters, wherever you want to watch them.”
Sarandos added, “We don’t lose any business to the movie theaters. In fact, the more people see movies, the better, deeper, richer relationship they have with movies.”
These comments came at the end of seven days granted by Warner Bros Discovery for discussions with competitor, Paramount, over a counter-bid. Sarandos also accused Paramount of trying to circumvent a signed deal, challenging Netflix to make a better offer, despite Netflix winning the initial battle for Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming and studios division.
The deal will remain ongoing for several months, on account of a vast amount of regulatory procedures that must take place before anything can be finalised.
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