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Batman in the “Squid Game” universe? A “Bridgerton” and “Harry Potter” crossover episode? Maybe! The proposed Warner Bros. and Netflix merger raises several critical questions about our future Saturday night viewing, whether we're on the couch in front of a TV, in a movie theater or staring hard at a phone glowing in the dark. 

The $83 billion deal announced Friday could combine one of the most powerful New Hollywood entertainment companies — fueled by hits like “Stranger Things” — with a legendary Old Hollywood studio that created classics like “Casablanca” and “The Maltese Falcon.” Millie Bobby Brown, meet Ingrid Bergman.

It’s not yet clear how these behemoths might co-exist under one roof (their roof or your roof). And remember, Warner owns HBO Max, which is part of this deal. 

Columbia Business School professor Kathryn Harrigan said acquiring Warner's century-old library gives Netflix many options, like charging a fee for some Warner Bros. movies, like Amazon Prime does, or charging extra for a more loaded version of the streamer. 

Netflix just keeps growing: My colleague Mike Calia made a great point today. When Netflix officials say they won't do something, they often go ahead and do it anyway: They weren’t going to run advertisements. Now they have an ad-tier. They weren’t going to do live programming. Now they do. They weren’t going to be in the sports business. Guess where you’ll be watching the NFL on Christmas Day this year. 

In April, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said studios presuming that people will go to a movie theater is "outdated." 

Yesterday, a group of unnamed, A-list “concerned feature film producers” warned members of Congress that this deal would absolutely tank theatrical runs, simply because Netflix can stream them whenever they see fit.

But then, in a conference call with analysts on Friday morning, Netflix leadership was pushed to plainly state that they will keep releasing Warner films in theaters. 

What will likely change, though, is how long flicks remain in the theaters (as in, shorter) and the access subscribers have to them at home (probably more immediate). Sarandos reminded investors in the Friday conference call that “we’ve released about 30 films into theaters just this year.” 

Here’s how Sarandos captured Netflix’s evolution in that call: “Remember, we started off as a DVD-by-mail company, then we moved to streaming, to producing original content, live programming from a U.S.-centric business to a global business." 

(Netflix / Warner Brothers via Everett Collection)

If this deal actually happens: This deal has already come under scrutiny. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in a letter this month to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, said merging Netflix with HBO Max would create a company with a level of reach "traditionally viewed as presumptively problematic under antitrust law.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a statement that the merger could “force Americans into higher subscription prices and fewer choices over what and how they watch.”

Even the state of California, the de facto home of the film industry, told NBC News that it would  closely scrutinize the merger in its own regulation. All of this is on top of general hand-wringing over the potential upheaval in the industry. 

And as CNBC reported, the White House is skeptical of the deal.  

Still, Sarandos said this morning that he feels confident, since the deal is “pro-consumer, pro-innovation, pro-creator and pro-growth.” 

And if it hits a snag and doesn't go through? Netflix is on the hook to pay Warner Bros. $5 billion. 

Why it matters: Netflix may have started as a DVD-sharing service, but it has grown exponentially by figuring out what people want and serving it directly to them. Some say this algorithmic-driven system is “destroying” Hollywood; Sarandos says it is saving it. 

A bid for a film giant like Warner Bros. — Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, and Paramount also made offers — is a huge show of Netflix’s power in an industry that is at a crossroads. Media deals like this have not always gone well, and Warner Bros. has been at the center of a few rough mergers and acquisitions in the recent past, including with AT&T. Sarandos said those deals were flawed because, in most cases, they were dying media assets looking for a lifeline. Netflix, he said, has a better grasp on the future and the merger only helps the company grow. 

If permitted, a merger would take around 12-18 months to complete. 

So for now, we the consumers wait, and we watch. What might our streaming bills look like? Will more movies skip the theater and go straight to our devices? Can I use any of this as an excuse to get my cousin to stop using my HBO Max password?

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