When Hollywood Starts Eating Itself

Every time Hollywood announces another merger, the public response follows a familiar script. Commentators wring their hands about monopoly power. Creators lament fewer jobs and fewer chances. Fans worry about beloved franchises being mishandled yet again.

Then the deal goes through, and every worst fear is realized, but nobody learns. The system lumbers on.

The proposed buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery fits that pattern, but it also marks a more terminal point. People are starting to notice that consolidation no longer represents growth, but exhaustion.

For decades, Hollywood relied on scale as a substitute for judgment. Bigger budgets promised bigger returns. Wider distribution meant cultural saturation. When one release faltered, another could cover the loss.

That logic made sense in an era when mass attention flowed through a small number of pipelines. Studios competed for those tubes, then charged rent to anyone who wanted access.

But anyone who’s paid attention for the past decade knows that those conditions no longer hold.

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