Hollywood Merger Threatens Movie Theaters Just as They Recover

Just when beleaguered movie theaters thought the worst was over, a big-studio takeover may force the industry to keep adapting.

On the verge of recovery after being roiled by the pandemic and Hollywood strikes, box office operators including Cinemark Holdings Inc., AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and Kinepolis Group NV are bracing for a plan by Netflix Inc. to buy Warner Bros Discovery Inc., threatening to squeeze theatrical releases.

Shorter windows for films to be shown exclusively in theaters imply “a material risk for the sector,” Degroof Petercam analyst Kris Kippers said in an interview.

“Taking hold of a company ...