Wagner Moura, Amy Madigan Share Warner Bros.-Netflix Deal Concerns at NYFCC

Rose Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Paul Thomas Anderson, Wagner Moura, Amy Madigan and Josh Safdie were among the winners who gathered Tuesday night at Tao Downtown in New York City for the 91st annual New York Film Critics Circle Awards.

Byrne was awarded the NYFCC best actress award for her performance in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” During her acceptance speech, she addressed the challenges of centering complex female characters in film.

“It is still a risk to put a compromising and challenging female character front and center of a movie,” she said on stage. “And I ask you, the audience, to reckon with her. ‘Legs’ forces you to not ignore this woman, this mother, wife and therapist who is making some questionable choices to avoid some truly horrible ones.”

She went on to thank director Mary Bronstein and the film’s producers for, as she put it, “agreeing to cast the girl from ‘Bridesmaids.’”

Earlier on the red carpet, Byrne spoke to Variety about Paul Feig, who directed her in “Bridesmaids” and has had recent success with the thriller “The Housemaid,” starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney. The film has grossed an impressive $75.7 million in North America and $133 million worldwide to date — and was recently greenlit for a sequel.

“I can’t wait to see it. I am, of course, behind,” Byrne said of “The Housemaid.” “I’m trying to see everything, but Paul is the biggest, sweetest, most darling man in the world, and he knows how to direct women. He just does. He loves women so much.”

When asked about reuniting with Feig for the “Housemaid” sequel, Byrne replied, “I’ll wait for the call! I’ll let [Paul] know you reached out.”

Another notable film of 2025, “KPop Demon Hunters,” is also generating anticipation for a sequel. Directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, along with producer Michelle Wong, attended the NYFCC ceremony to accept the best animated film award.

Although outlets reported that Netflix and Sony have finalized a deal for a follow-up, with plans to release the sequel in 2029, producer Wong said, “I don’t know if that’s really confirmed yet.”

She added, “We are deep into the award season and just trying to focus on that. So once that’s over and we have some time, possibly? But there has to be a reason to make No. 2, and we haven’t figured that out yet.”

On the horizon, the industry may see significant changes, particularly if Netflix moves forward with its acquisition of Warner Bros.

Kleber Mendonca Filho, director of “The Secret Agent” and winner of best foreign language film, told Variety he believes such a merger would be “a very bad idea” and that “we should respect theatrical.”

“It’s too much power concentrated in one place,” Filho said. “I have nothing against streaming. I actually think it’s an amazing technology. I’m actually looking forward to the day ‘The Secret Agent’ will hit screening, but I’m only looking forward to that because I know that it will do everything it can theatrically in Brazil, in the U.S., in France — and I will make films for theatrical. I can only think in terms of making a film for theatrical. And once the film is done after three, four, five months, I will be very happy to promote the second life of that film on streaming.”

Madigan, who had a breakout year as Aunt Gladys in Zach Cregger’s “Weapons,” expressed similar concerns about the potential sale of Warner Bros. to Netflix.

“I get worried about Netflix — and I know they have lots of money — but I know that we’re always referred to not as film or cinema, but as content. And they’re very concerned about just having everybody look like that at things,” she told Variety. “Whether that comes to fruition or not, I don’t know, but that makes me nervous.”

She continued, “Whatever happens, a lot of people are going to lose their jobs, and our industry is in a difficult situation right now. So that makes me nervous also.”

“The Secret Agent” star Moura, who won the NYFCC best actor award, said he hopes the deal doesn’t affect theatrical releases, noting that watching a film in a theater versus at home is a “completely different experience.”

“Both experiences are good, but one cannot erase the other, right?” Moura said. “Going to the theater with other people is an experience that we have to keep doing. It’s a very magical one and a very important one.”

See the full 2025 NYFCC Award winners here.