How theme parks could change now that Netflix owns Warner Bros.
What does the Netflix purchase of Warner Bros. mean for the future of theme parks? Things might turn upside-down.
Netflix purchased Warner Bros. on Dec. 5, 2025, for a value of approximately $82.7 billion. The deal will change the future of the entertainment industry — but what of theme parks?
Warner Bros. licenses its name and characters to various theme parks around the world, but does not outright own any parks. These include Warner Bros. Movie World (owned by Village Roadshow Theme Parks) in Australia and Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi (owned by Miral, the same company partnering on Disney’s upcoming Abu Dhabi theme park) in the United Arab Emirates.
Photo courtesy of Village Roadshow
Photo courtesy of Miral
These licensing partnerships are overseen by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences, which also operates WB studio tour attractions in Hollywood, London, and Tokyo. Now, this same department of WB is seemingly at the new mega-corporation’s disposal to create location-based entertainment and theme park attractions based not only on WB’s library of assets, but also of Netflix’s.
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
Netflix doesn’t have its own theme parks, but just last month the company launched the first Netflix House, an indoor venue with elaborate attractions based on Netflix series. (The inaugural location in Philadelphia includes “Wednesday” and “One Piece” attractions; another opening next week in Dallas features “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game.” Meanwhile, “KPop Demon Hunters” is on the way for the future.)
Photo by Tom Knabe and Sarah Elger
Photo by Tom Knabe and Sarah Elger
Universal — who also bid for Warner Bros. this week, but lost out to Netflix — frequently collaborates with WB via Universal Destinations & Experiences to create The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attractions in theme parks globally, including the recent Ministry of Magic at Epic Universe, which opened in May. Universal also hosts Scooby-Doo and Beetlejuice character meet & greets in its parks, both WB properties. These all represent licensing partnerships, though; Universal doesn’t own any of those franchises.
Photo by Blake Taylor
Photo by Blake Taylor
Photo by Blake Taylor
Universal also has a history with Netflix, having collaborated for multiple Halloween Horror Nights haunted houses over the years, such as those based on “Stranger Things” and “The Haunting of Hill House.” Universal’s animation divisions have also developed series exclusively for Netflix, such as “Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.” The working relationship across multiple facets of Universal may be advantageous as Netflix considers future theme park partnerships — and as Universal seeks to add more IP into its parks, even if it doesn’t own the IP themselves. That’s reportedly currently the case with discussions to place DC Comics attractions into Universal parks.
Video of the “Stranger Things” cast visiting the show’s haunted house at Halloween Horror Nights 2018 at Universal Studios Hollywood:
Beyond Universal, both WB and Netflix have a history with Six Flags. WB licenses its Looney Tunes and DC Comics franchises to Six Flags parks, but does not hold an ownership stake in Six Flags itself. Entire lands, events, and roller coasters alike are themed to Bugs Bunny, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and other familiar toons and heroes in the WB fold. The future of these characters’ presence in Six Flags parks may hinge on whether Netflix sees Six Flags as a responsible steward of its newly acquired brands. In a temporary capacity, Netflix has worked with Six Flags to develop “Stranger Things” haunted houses for Fright Fest (completely separate from Universal’s Horror Nights).
Photo courtesy of Six Flags
Photo by Jeff DePaoli
Video of the “Stranger Things” haunted house at Fright Fest Extreme 2024 at Six Flags Great Adventure:
Particularly where “Harry Potter” is concerned, other themed entertainment companies are working on various experiences for the future. Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure will open in 2026 from Rail Events. Meanwhile, just this week Merlin Entertainments announced a new “Harry Potter” land coming to Legoland Deutschland in Germany. It now falls upon the larger Netflix corporation to manage these partnerships — and to approve or deny partnerships in the future.
Bigger picture, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to imagine Netflix skipping partnerships altogether and embark upon an entire theme park of their own; Netflix House is certainly a step toward the experience necessary for such a venture. Are they content with small-scale venues like Netflix House while leaving more big-budget ventures to partnerships with other companies? Or would they want a dominion all their own? Time will tell.
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Here’s my pitch: the Warner Bros lot is roughly ten times the size of “Universal City”. How about Netflix either converts most of that to a park of their own. Or, sell it to Universal to make a west coast Epic Universe!
Netflix doesn’t own Warner Brothers. They had the highest bid to buy them. It will never see completion under anti trust laws and monopoly laws.
NETFLIX DOES ***NOT *** OWN WARNER BROS. Its offer has been accepted, but there board at Warners has a hostile bid from Paramount to consider. And the whole thing still needs federal approval. Please, get this right.
You are jumping the gun……Netflix has offered to buy WB…….it is not a deal done….not by any means….and now paramount has made an offer…….