Frankenstein 2025
Cited as the pattern they fear: a short theatrical run, then straight to the service, and the casual viewer learns to wait.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Interview
The Truth About Netflix Buying Warner Bros. Plus: Snubs and Surprises of the Golden Globe Nominations and Jafar Panahi on ‘It Was Just an Accident.’
December 8, 2025/ 117 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean Fennessey and Amanda Dobbins open on the $82.7 billion news that Netflix's bid for Warner Bros. was accepted, and what it does to theatrical windows, physical media, and the studios left standing (Paramount's hostile counter-bid landed an hour before they recorded). Then the Golden Globe nominations, snub by snub. Sean closes with an interview with Jafar Panahi about 'It Was Just an Accident,' recorded before news broke of Panahi's latest one-year prison sentence.
49 films across 4 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Netflix buys Warner Bros.the $82.7B deal, and Paramount's hostile counter-bid
Wake Up Dead Man 2025
The latest Knives Out, doing the same quick-to-Netflix routine.
Jay Kelly 2025
Maybe not even getting the theatrical moment, per Amanda.
Sinners 2025
Ryan Coogler's 25-year ownership stake used as the example of a deal a Netflix-owned WB might not greenlight.
Barbie 2023
Sean's read on Greta Gerwig: she keeps mining her youth, and that's now steering her toward IP and the big Netflix-scale release.
Lady Bird 2017
Amanda's Gerwig ranking: No. 1, ahead of Little Women and Barbie.
Little Women 2019
No. 2 on Amanda's Gerwig list, by a smidgen.
Oppenheimer 2023
Sarandos once claimed it and Barbie would've been just as big straight to streaming, which Amanda calls a crazy thing to say out loud.
Train Dreams 2025
The counter-case: a small film Netflix acquired and put in front of everyone, that would've had a tiny windowed release as a Sony Classics title.
Triple Frontier 2019
Named as one of the actually-good Netflix originals. The list is shorter than the creative freedom would suggest.
Zootopia 2 2025
$900 million in two weekends: the money is still there in theatrical when the concept is big enough.
Top Gun: Maverick 2022
Skydance's one clear win; they were right to sit on it through the pandemic.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga 2024
Sean's post-box-office essay from May 2024, when 'just keep going to movies' was still an easy message to send.
KPop Demon Hunters 2025
Sony gave it to Netflix; used as shorthand for the smaller studios leaning on streaming-first deals.
A New Leaf 1971
Elaine May's film, newly on 4K via Cinematograph/Vinegar Syndrome and licensed from Paramount. Sean's worry is whether Netflix would ever license out a WB catalog title that way.
Bring It On 2000
Amanda's 4K, made by Shout Factory, one of the labels now routing distribution through the WB/Universal-owned SDS.
F1 2025
$11.99 to own on 4K forever, cheaper than a ticket, and the case for physical media as preservation insurance.
The Golden Globe nominationssnubs, surprises, and category fraud
One Battle After Another 2025
Nine nominations, in every major category it was eligible for. Running in comedy, which they think is backwards. Regina Hall the only arguable snub.
Sentimental Value 2025
The second-most-nominated film with four acting nods and two for Joachim Trier, including director. A surprise, given it had felt like it was waning.
Hamnet 2025
Six nominations (Chloé Zhao, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Max Richter's score), pretty much exactly what it needed.
Sinners 2025
Running in drama against Hamnet despite its musical elements; not a single supporting nod, which Sean calls the biggest oversight.
Nouvelle Vague 2025
Richard Linklater's second Best Musical or Comedy nominee, the pick that threw Sean for a loop, and at Jay Kelly's expense.
Blue Moon 2025
Linklater's other one, with Ethan Hawke in for Best Actor: 'wonderful.'
Jay Kelly 2025
Shut out of Best Musical or Comedy, but Clooney and Sandler both got acting nods; no Billy Crudup.
Wicked for Good 2025
Left out of Best Musical or Comedy entirely and relegated to the cinematic-and-box-office category. Big news, since it's sinking at the box office.
Bugonia 2025
Three nominations, in comedy, with Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone: funny, but debatable how funny versus painful.
A House of Dynamite 2025
Completely shut out.
Wake Up Dead Man 2025
Also completely shut out.
Avatar: Fire and Ash 2025
Relegated to the cinematic-and-box-office-achievement category: cinematic first, then box office.
F1 2025
Sean's beloved, also in the blockbuster category.
KPop Demon Hunters 2025
In the box-office category, plus two of its songs nominated; won Best Animated Feature at the New York Film Critics Circle. 'Justice for Soda Pop.'
Frankenstein 2025
Five nominations, including Oscar Isaac and Best Director for Guillermo del Toro, but not screenplay. One of two Netflix drama spots, over Jay Kelly and Train Dreams.
Train Dreams 2025
No Best Drama nod, though Joel Edgerton got in. Lost a Netflix slot to Nouvelle Vague and Frankenstein.
Marty Supreme 2025
Snubbed for its score (which Sean calls maybe the score of the year) and for Josh Safdie in director, the Ben Affleck-hosted screening notwithstanding. Sean saw it a second time and it was better.
No Other Choice 2025
Lee Byung-hun and the film in for Best Musical or Comedy, a satirical, violent comedy Sean just put on his top five.
The Smashing Machine 2025
Emily Blunt in supporting actress: 'some Globes got a Globe.'
Hedda 2025
Tessa Thompson in for Best Actress, on Amazon Prime now; an interesting adaptation that doesn't quite get there. Nina Hoss was good, and snubbed.
Sorry, Baby 2025
Eva Victor nominated for Best Actress, never would've predicted it. Still a real Best Original Screenplay contender at the Oscars.
Sirât 2025
Nominated for its electronic rave score, the most outlandish pick to Sean, who has it on Blu-ray but hasn't seen it. More like Challengers than Marty Supreme.
Challengers 2024
The comparison point for the Sirât score, and the reminder the Globes skipped it last year too.
Song Sung Blue 2025
The Kate Hudson karaoke movie neither host has seen yet.
Anaconda 2025
On Amanda's to-see list, the reason she can't get to Song Sung Blue this week.
‘It Was Just an Accident’the hosts' take before the Panahi interview
It Was Just an Accident 2025
Panahi's Palme d'Or winner, shot largely in secret: a mechanic thinks a man who drives in after an accident may be his former torturer, and a Hitchcockian road comedy accretes around the question. Amanda went in cold and loved it, stressed the whole time; both flag a hospital set piece for its nausea. Sean's pick for this year's 'Anatomy of a Fall.'
This Is Not a Film 2011
Made under house arrest, the experimental end of Panahi's work that this film moves away from.
Taxi 2015
The one where he mounts a camera in a taxi, cited as the kind of formally playful film that 'It Was Just an Accident' deliberately isn't.
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You 2025
Amanda's other most-nauseous-in-a-theater movie of the year, and a companion to the hospital sequence here.
Anatomy of a Fall 2023
The template: the international thriller that becomes the awards conversation's pop favorite. Sean thinks this is that film this year.
Jafar Panahi on ‘It Was Just an Accident’recorded before news of his latest one-year sentence
Jafar Panahi on
It Was Just an Accident 2025
Panahi (through interpreter Shaida Dayani) says he doesn't see it as a thriller: his wife watches those, he runs away. Revenge and forgiveness are only surface; the real question is whether the cycle of violence keeps repeating. He cast for physical presence first, drew the roof-and-credit-card-machine scene from prison and from a kid with a card reader at a red light, and wanted the humor to run until the last twenty minutes so the ending would land. He knows only that his next film is about war.
Jafar Panahi on
Bashu, the Little Stranger 1989
Panahi's answer to the closing 'last great thing you've seen': Bahram Beyzai's newly restored 1989 film, which he notes is also about war.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing DeadpoolArgoThe Little ThingsErin BrockovichTrafficParasite
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV The CrownThe White LotusAdolescenceDepartment QTaskThe Chair CompanyThe Sex Lives of College GirlsStranger Things
Podcasts Good Hang with Amy PoehlerThe Watch
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