Netflix

Netflix’s co-CEOs, in a letter to WBD stockholders:

As hokey as the first few episodes of Stranger Things’ final season felt, the new trailer for the next batch dropping on December 25th makes it seem like the series is stepping its game up as it races towards the finish line.

The third movie in the whodunit series is now streaming on Netflix. You can also check out my review of Wake Up Dead Man (it’s good!) and an interview with director Rian Johnson about why he doesn’t plan in advance and why the movies are always rooted in the present.

The new teaser for season 2 of Netflix’s live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series is full of iffy-looking action, but it gives us a very promising look at Miya Cech’s take on Toph.

Since Netflix announced that it was the frontrunner to buy Warner Bros., David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has been getting more hostile in its bids to own the legacy studio. But Semafor reports that Paramount’s tactics have raised eyes in Washington, where some think Ellison is banking on favoritism from Trump’s Justice Department.

After launching a hostile bid for the entertainment giant, Paramount’s Ellison told CNBC that Netflix’s deal to buy part of WBD would create a company with “unprecedented market power:”

Warner Bros. has a long history of bad buyouts and mergers, but maybe Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has been watching a little too much Arrested Development on his own platform.

Despite Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos’ efforts to woo the president last month, Trump said on Sunday that plans to combine the streamer with Warner Bros. “could be a problem.” Trump said that Netflix already has a “very big market share,” which will “go up by a lot” if the $83 billion buyout goes ahead.

Warner Bros. mergers have a not-so-great history, but with this deal, co-CEO Greg Peters said on an analyst call that, as transcribed by Deadline:

Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, from an investor call:

From its website:

From its press release:

WBD’s board of directors determined that “this structure – Warner Bros. joining Netflix, and Discovery Global becoming a focused standalone company – provides the strongest long-term foundation for both sets of businesses,” Zaslav says.

The company is selling Spry Fox, a studio it acquired in 2022 that’s known for cozy games like Cozy Grove and is developing an MMO, back to its original owners, Game File reports. It’s the latest shift in Netflix’s evolving gaming strategy.

Rian Johnson might not be open to a Knives Out feature starring The Muppets, but he seems to have given his blessing to Netflix’s new Sesame Street short about detective Beignet Blanc investigating the disappearance of Cookie Monster’s triple berry pie.

Stranger Things is back for (the first part of) its final season, but given the lengthy period between episodes, there’s a good chance you have some catching up to do. To that end, Netflix released this very handy recap covering season 4, which wrapped up way back in 2022.

This trailer for Netflix’s upcoming Star Search revival is really just a list all the celebrities like Beyoncé, Usher, and Britney Spears who were discovered on the original series. But it’s also the streamer’s way of announcing that Anthony Anderson will host the new live show when it premieres on January 13th.

A source tells TheWrap that Netflix is betting on video podcasts to capture your attention while outside the platform:

What was once a department store inside of the King of Prussia Mall has become a new (and now open) Netflix House entertainment venue where you can “explore more than 100,000 square feet of immersive experiences” inspired by some of the streamer’s shows like Wednesday, One Piece, and Squid Game.

It’s a good day to stay home: the first two episodes of Vince Gilligan’s Pluribus are now on Apple TV, while Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is on Netflix after a brief theatrical run. And if you’re looking for more after you watch, here are my interviews with Gilligan and Frankenstein creature designer Mike Hill.

If you can’t wait until November 26th to experience the final season of Stranger Things (which has taken more than three years to release), you can now watch the first five minutes of its first episode, “The Crawl.” It’s been an age since we’ve seen Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) looking so baby-faced.