Netflix and Paramount's battle over Warner Bros. Discovery looms over Hollywood's awards season

LOS ANGELES — For a company at the center of a chaotic battle over the future of Hollywood, Warner Bros.

LOS ANGELES — For a company at the center of a chaotic battle over the future of Hollywood, Warner Bros. Discovery had a pretty good Monday.

The media conglomerate’s film “One Battle After Another” and TV show “The White Lotus” collected the most Golden Globe nominations in their categories. Another of its movies, “Sinners,” also fared well, earning seven nominations.

But the studio did not have much time to celebrate. Just as actors Marlon Wayans and Skye P. Marshall were calling the names of Golden Globe nominees at a news conference at the Beverly Hilton, Paramount launched a hostile takeover bid for WBD valued at more than $108 billion.

WBD’s board and shareholders are weighing competing offers for the studio from Netflix and Paramount. Meanwhile, voters in Hollywood are beginning their deliberations as award season ramps up. Many of the seven Hollywood insiders NBC News spoke with — including producers, marketers and former studio executives — said the looming media merger will shape votes for upcoming awards shows, including the Directors Guild Awards, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the coveted Academy Awards.

“This deal is an emotional piece of news for a lot of people,” said “Silence of the Lambs” producer Edward Saxon, a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and chair of the producing program at the University of Southern California’s film school. “There’s worry about consolidation and about the future of theatrical. The feeling is I don’t get a vote on so much of what’s happening in the industry right now. If I do have a vote on something, I’m going to vote against consolidation.”