Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

KERRY MCQUISTEN: Time For Conservative Billionaires To Join Fight Against Woke Hollywood

Wikimedia Commons

Netflix is still the most popular streaming service in the world, and many of its movies are blatantly woke.

They range from the preachy climate change drama “Don’t Look Up” to a “Pride and Prejudice” reboot that stripped out a scene because it might objectify men to an identity politics-obsessed film called simply “Dear White People.”

Netflix’s movie selection — pushed into hundreds of millions of homes worldwide — speaks to a broader truth: the left’s stranglehold on entertainment is a real problem.

Culture shapes politics. If conservatives don’t reclaim cultural influence from those who are hostile to their values and even America itself, election victories won’t translate into lasting change.

And Netflix isn’t even the whole of it. Consider the Oscars.

The Oscars are always woke, but this year was particularly horrendous.

The Best Picture award came down to a face-off between ”One Battle After Another,” which glorifies murderous left-wing terrorists, and ”Sinners,” which portrays white people as literal vampires.

As Elon Musk put it, the message of “One Battle” is “brutal” and “woke propaganda.” Musk also responded to the race-swapped casting in Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming adaptation of Homer’s ”Odyssey” by saying, “Nolan has lost his integrity.”

Elon has been fighting back against wokeism in the film industry, but we need others with similar resources to step up to the plate. We need conservatives to make new films that don’t flinch away from truth, justice, and the American way.

Though small “conservative” indie film companies have sprung up across the country, they typically lack the budget needed to achieve high production values and widespread distribution. They simply can’t compete with Hollywood blockbusters, and given the subversion of woke propaganda, they need those resources.

Up until now, our team hasn’t been on the playing field.

Enter Trump-friendly billionaire David Ellison.

In 2022, Ellison’s production company Skydance, released ”Top Gun: Maverick,” which made $1.5 billion (more than ”Sinners” and ”One Battle” combined), won an Oscar for sound, and was nominated for five more, including Best Picture. Haters called it right-wing propaganda because of its positive portrayal of the U.S. military. Audiences, and Academy Award voters, obviously didn’t care.

Other would-be producers should take notes: if you want to make non-woke cinema with mass appeal, there’s a real market for it. You just have to make sure the resulting film is really, really good.

Since then, Ellison has expanded his entertainment and media empire. In August 2025, he bought Paramount, and just last month, Warner Bros. Discovery accepted Ellison’s $111 billion acquisition offer. When the deal closes, Ellison will control CNN, the HBO Max streaming service, a major Hollywood film studio, and iconic franchises like ”Game of Thrones,” Harry Potter, and DC Comics.

Better yet, Ellison also managed to stop Netflix from acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery. We can all breathe a sigh of relief that didn’t happen.

Naturally, Ellison has critics on the left. Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders is already screaming about “oligarchy,” while Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren is raising baseless “concerns” about antitrust law. They can see the threat Ellison poses to their side’s ubiquitous propaganda machine.

Thanks to Ellison, the future of American cinema will hopefully look less like ”One Battle After Another” and more like ”Top Gun: Maverick.” If a few other right-leaning billionaires jump into Hollywood, there’s no limit to what they might achieve.

Kerry McQuisten is Chair of the Board for the Oregon Conservative Caucus, a nonprofit organization empowering citizens to become community leaders who protect constitutional principles and conservative values. She is a former mayor of Bakery City, Oregon and former candidate for governor.

 The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

(Featured Image Media Credit: Hollywood Sign, Public Domain image, Wikimedia Commons)