Streaming columnist NICK OVERALL sees a bleak future for struggling cinemas and subscription prices rising as Netflix cements itself as the winner of the streaming wars with its takeover of Warner Bros.

Is this the death of cinema as we know it?

In what is being called the entertainment deal of the century, Netflix is set to buy Warner Brothers Discovery for an eye watering $US83 billion.

That would give the streaming giant access to even more of the world’s biggest franchises.

Warner Bros owns Harry Potter, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Game of Thrones, the DC universe and many more iconic films and TV shows that would end up in the Netflix catalogue.

It’s a huge move. In buying out Warner Bros, Netflix is also essentially taking out one of its biggest competitors.

HBO Max, the streaming service owned by Warner Bros, has been dominating with huge series such as The White Lotus, House of the Dragon and The Last of Us.

These shows are conversation starters and Netflix wants to own that conversation.

By obtaining these series the streaming giant would undoubtedly cement itself as the winner of the streaming wars.

Having more content in one central platform for people to access sounds good on paper, but the deal has created serious concerns.

Among them is the possibility of yet another price hike for subscribers.

Netflix has rolled out a string of cost increases in the last few years that have left many families fed up at a time when cost of living is high.

With more content under its belt, it’s likely subscribers will get another email in the not-too-distant future telling them they have to open their wallets again.

The deal has also raised serious concerns about what will happen to already struggling cinemas. 

Warner Bros is one of the biggest film-production houses in the world. If future movie releases were under Netflix control, cinemas would be less likely to get those movies on the big screen.

Netflix does occasionally release some of its films for limited runs in the movies. 

Most recently they had Guillermo Del Toro’s new Frankenstein film on the big screen for a few weeks around the same time it released the movie for home viewers.

Netflix says it will continue to do this but they’ve previously made it clear what they really think about cinema releases.

In an interview last year, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos claimed the blockbuster films Barbie and Oppenheimer would have been just as big on Netflix as they were in the movies.

“There’s no reason to believe that the movie is better in any size of screen for all people,” he told the New York Times.

“My son’s an editor. He watched Lawrence of Arabia on his phone.”

Well, the director of Oppenheimer seems to think differently. 

Christopher Nolan, known for being the director of the Dark Knight trilogy (also owned by Warner Bros) has called for a crisis meeting with Netflix.

Nolan is the head of the Directors Guild and wants an urgent sit down to discuss what this deal is going to mean for the future of cinemas.

He’s not the only one worried. Avatar and Titanic director James Cameron has called the move a “disaster”. A number of Hollywood heavyweight producers are reportedly lobbying to have the deal shut down over fears of cinema closures and job losses.

Perhaps the biggest impact though will be in the very creative output Netflix claims it champions.

Look at shows such as Stranger Things, which has become Netflix’s biggest hit and is now streaming its epic final season.

Stranger Things is a sci-fi horror series that wears its ‘80s inspiration on its sleeve.

Films such as ET, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jaws, Stand By Me and many more are all massive influences that have made the show what it is.

Would Stranger Things even exist if the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, weren’t once swept away by the magic of the big screen?

This kind of monopoly, all in the name of churning out endless content, risks a creative spiral that could drain the imagination out of future storytelling. 

Strange times, indeed.