Two and a half decades later, that humble mail-order start-up is preparing to buy the studio that helped build modern Hollywood itself. Netflix’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros – the century-old home of Casablanca, Harry Potter, DC superheroes, The Lord of the Rings (via New Line), HBO and control of classics like The Wizard of Oz – for an enterprise value of roughly 82.7 billion dollars marks a transformative moment in entertainment history. For the first time, a company that began its life shipping DVDs is about to take ownership of a film and television library that has shaped global culture for a hundred years.