Netflix announced it will buy Warner Bros. in a $72-billion deal that includes ownership of iconic properties like Harry Potter and the DC Universe.

The competition between Netflix and Paramount Skydance to acquire the studio is haunted by the ghosts of mergers past.

The deal stands to remake Hollywood, reshape global streaming, and thrust Netflix into a newly dominant position across film, television, and digital media.

Netflix announced Friday that it has agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio streaming-focused company HBO Max for $82.7 billion, including debt.

The closely watched bidding war for David Zaslav’s Warner Bros. Discovery empire has concluded, with Netflix emerging as the victor over NBCUniversal and Paramount Skydance—the latter of which really,

The deal, likely to face antitrust scrutiny, comes after bidding war with Comcast and Paramaount Skydance for classic studio that sits on century's worth of content

While the vast majority of the focus around Hollywood will be on Netflix owning HBO, DC Studios, Harry Potter and one of the most cherished movie libraries (which one exec called like a “futuristic sci-fi movie where one place delivers all entertainment”), the deal will also essentially recreate Discovery Communications with a few more networks.

Interviews with dozens of actors, producers and camera crews reveal an industry attempting to weigh the lesser of two horrible choices.