I Think We’re Going to Be Okay

Netflix just bought Warner Bros a few weeks ago.

My feed has been filled with nothing but headlines alluding to “The End of Cinema” or “The Slimiest Practices of Capitalism.”

The latter is very true. Industry giants vying for control in the entertainment sector, buying each other out, does not bode well for fans on all sides, regardless of any sentiment.

Monopolies are not good for business, especially for the entertainment business. All ideas will hover around the same minds, so there will be little to no trace of inspiration in the media you consume.

Monopolies turn big companies complacent and churn out hot, smouldering garbage you will not enjoy. Trust me, I’m a professional wrestling fan.

However, I don’t think that this deal signals the end of cinema. Maybe the golden age of cinema, but not the industry as a whole. As the title suggests, I do think that there is a bright side to be had here.

But to see it, we probably have to take a step back and look in the other direction.

The Downfall of Giants

The one fun pattern I see at the peak of an industry leader’s popularity is that sooner or later, a company will either adapt to a new age and create something new or coast on the nostalgia of its IPs.

They’ll grow too big until they can no longer sustain that growth and resort to greedy market tactics to keep their growing company afloat. A company can only grow so big before it becomes too heavy to carry itself on its own two feet.

Alas, the quote “And Caesar wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer.”

This isn’t a pattern I’ve seen in the movie industry until this very recent trade, however. The decline of movie theatres since the pandemic has been a conversation we’ve been avoiding and has only recently made itself known with this Netflix-WB headline.

Instead, I look to the rising sector of gaming, which is perhaps the newest booming sector of the entertainment industry, for this pattern of corporate cannibalism. To pretend that gaming is still a niche market is an outdated take at this point.

I see companies I grew up with, from Bethesda to Activision, churn out the same successful IPs year after year, squeezing every ounce of goodwill from their fanbase with lazy production value games.

Add that to the other headline earlier this year about EA selling itself to Saudi Arabia, which is a whole other article in itself; the giants that head the gaming industry are slowly collapsing in their greed.

But the reason we have the title is that 2025 showed us that when giants fall, new faces rise from the ashes and build something new.

A Renaissance in the Making

The 2025 Game Awards was what probably convinced me that when it comes to entertainment, people don’t just stand by and wait for the world to collapse. They do something about it.

This year truly belonged to the vibrant communities that built up the gaming sphere, as multiple indie games took the spotlight and entered the conversation to compete for the best game of the year.

This is not an article where I glaze Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, but the fact that an indie game swept more awards than any other game in the award show’s history tells you that times are changing.

The technology available to common folk is becoming more accessible to those who have the passion to create something good and memorable.

Titles like Dispatch, Hollow Knight: Silksong, Hades 2, and even Kingdom Come: Deliverance were signs of the times.

When people get tired of the corporate themes that don’t dare to be bold and stick to formulaic writing and production, they look to other sources that are willing to push the boundaries of what has never been done before.

And to head back to our topic: What does that say about cinema?

I truly don’t think cinema will die. I just think we’re entering an era where it’ll be up to new creators to step up to a demand that is slowly beginning to shift.

Spaces will take on new meaning. People nowadays don’t even go to casinos anymore. Countries like Brazil and the Philippines simply turn on their phones and play GameZone slots from there.

There were decades when I’d hear arguments of how theatre is outdated because of cinema. Now, the challenge falls on those who love cinema to see if an era of streaming will spell their industry’s demise, or if it will push them to redefine their place in an evolving industry.

And quite frankly, I’m very much excited to see the art that revolution will bear fruit.

Photo Credits

Person Holding a Remote Control – Pexels

Bugs Bunny Statue · Nate Biddle · Free Stock Photo

The 2025 Game Awards

Guest Author Bio
Ethan Nicholson Manalo

Ethan Nicholson Manalo always wanted to be a writer. He just didn’t know what type yet, so he just wrote about whatever.

Currently residing in the Philippines, he works as an SEO Content Writer to learn more about writing articles online and getting people to read them.