“Are we the baddies?”

I’m sure y’all know the meme, even if you have no idea where it originates from (BTW, guilty): two guys in the snow, clad in what look to be N*zi uniforms. One of them asks his colleague, ostensibly after reviewing their recent actions, “Are we the baddies?”.

Checking the front page of the website of the company that I’m working out of (I work for another company. I don’t work for these guys. I wanna make that sparklingly clear.), the answer - in a roundabout way - is yes.

In case you’ve been living under a rock these last few weeks, you’ve heard that Warner Bros. - despite an incredible year of box office success - is being sold. The two monoliths vying for its legacy are Netflix (whose CEO basically had to be strong-armed into agreeing not to fuck with the theatrical experience that the studio’s movies have experienced lo these many, many years) and Paramount (currently run by a Mongoloid nepo baby whose father is good buddies with a certain country-destroying monster).

The company I work out of is advising the latter.

Maybe I’m overreacting, maybe I’m not (smart money’s on not), but given the deplorable shit that these people have done - if not condoned - these last few years, I have absolutely no reason not to suspect that one of the first things a new Paramount would produce with Warner’s library is a remake of Casablanca that ends with Rick, Ilsa and Laszlo - and, let’s be honest, Sam and Renault would definitely be thrown against the wall, as well - get machine gunned by the Axis, which ties nicely into the meme that I referenced originally.

But even if Captain Netflix goes back on his word about theatrical windows like the trifling reneger he is, I’d much rather have Netflix owning Warner Bros. than current Paramount. Week-long theatrical windows or godless propaganda? That is a tough call.

(And, as I’m certain many soundtrack fans have considered, I wouldn’t be crass enough to want Paramount owning Warner Bros. even if it meant the releases of scores from Warner Bros. movies. In the long run, it just wouldn’t be worth it and who knows how long music would even be allowed in this new regime?)

In a weird way, it’s quite fortunate that the contract that the company I work for had with the parent company is expiring and, come 2026, I’ll be unemployed. I’m not rich enough to be able to make the choice between my job and my integrity. Bills need to be paid.