The Warner Bros. Thread | Will NOT merge with Paramount...capitalism is still terrible

[Porthos]

7 hours ago, YSLDC said:

 

You're suggesting [ed: The Flash] could open below Black Adam with higher previews? 😄

 

7 hours ago, Into the Legion-Verse said:

Of course it could—  you’re not going to do 8.8x with higher previews in summer! If it previewed to say 8.0 (higher than BA) then a weekend below BA would be a lock.   
 

But more likely still is that it will be low double digit previews and scrape by for the full weekend.

 

6 hours ago, Firepower said:

Opening below Black Adam would be embarassing.

4 hours ago, Coneilg93 said:

It would be embarrassing and give Gunn another reason to nuke the DCEU lol 

 

[Taken from the Tracking Thread over to here]

 

Preeeeety sure you got the causality backwards there, Coneilg93.

 

i.e., a main reason for such anemic sales for The Flash so far ****IS**** because the DCEU has been nuked  — and I've been thinking The Flash underperforming was a possibility ever since Shazam 2 massively underperformed. 

 

That is, while I'm sure there is a loooong list of reasons for Shazam 2's performance (especially its utterly shocking first few days of pre-sales) I am convinced that the straw that broke the camel's back was the announcement of the New DCEU.

 

Similarly, while there is a loooong list of factors that could explain why, despite fantastic buzz from the geek/nerd community, The Flash hasn't really broken out during its pre-sales run so far, I repeat SO FAR, I think the GA might have just have checked out on the whole concept of the DCEU for now.

 

Or rather, it might take stellar reviews to get over a massive wall of hesitation to give this film a chance.

 

Doesn't mean The Flash can't break out at the end of its pre-sale run or have stellar WOM and a nice leggy run.  And, naturally, Ezra Miller's situation isn't helping matters at all (if only because it's causing a very different PR roll out than a film like this would normally have).  Just think the looming reset of the DCEU is looming large here and goes a long way as to explain what is going on with The Flash's pre-sales.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Porthos

[Joyous Legion]

Yeah it’s not like Flash doing poorly can cause a universe reboot — a universe reboot can cause Flash to do poorly.

[dudalb]

On 6/5/2023 at 5:04 PM, Into the Legion-Verse said:

Yeah it’s not like Flash doing poorly can cause a universe reboot — a universe reboot can cause Flash to do poorly.

Clear that the Flash has lost a lot of it;s importance in the DCU....and that the one they expect to be the big changer is Superman:Legacy.

[dudalb]

Atlantic magazine did an articlethis week  on the decline of CNN that, to put it  mildly, does not make Licht or Zaslev look good.

Zaslev seems to be running intho huge headwinds. Could swamp him if the BOD think he has managed to do damage to two of Warners prestige brands..CNN and DC.

 

[21C]

1 hour ago, dudalb said:

Atlantic magazine did an articlethis week  on the decline of CNN that, to put it  mildly, does not make Licht or Zaslev look good.

Zaslev seems to be running intho huge headwinds. Could swamp him if the BOD think he has managed to do damage to two of Warners prestige brands..CNN and DC.

 

Aside from Batgirl, I fail to see how Zaslav has done any damage to DC whatsoever. His main move regarding DC has been to put Gunn and Safran in charge, which has been a move received positively so far even with some of the collateral DCEU drama damage. The rest of what's happened to DC is just carrying the sins of the past administration.

Also I'm still skeptical you can blame Shazam 2's massive underperformance or Flash's 2 underwhelming tracking on Gunn's DCU announcement. It is an undeniable fact that most people do not know about the DCU yet. There is no reason to believe that Shazam 2 would've done considerably better if not for Gunn's reboot, especially considering how hard it flopped. 

Edited June 7, 2023 by 21C

[excel1]

Straight up: The Black Adam "Henry's back!" followed so closely by "Actually Henry is gone" happened under Zaslav's watch and was a remarkably bad PR move. Absolutely should have been more thought out. 

[AJG]

 

 

 

[Porthos]

4 hours ago, AJG said:

 

 

 

 

Not surprised in the least, as The Atlantic profile was that brutal.

 

It's been a long time since I read as devastating piece as I did that one.

[WittyUsername]

That was fast. 

[dudalb]

6 hours ago, Porthos said:

 

Not surprised in the least, as The Atlantic profile was that brutal.

 

It's been a long time since I read as devastating piece as I did that one.

It was very brutal. The bit about Licht forcing CNN to drop the term "Sexual Abuse: in refrenct to the Trump indicimtnet was really devastating. 

He will not be missed.

[dudalb]

6 hours ago, WittyUsername said:

That was fast. 

You really have to read the Atlantic Magazine article (it's all over the place on line)  to get why this was so fast.That artical was just brutal in it;s portrayal of Licht and his trying to slant CNN in favor of Donald Trump.

 

[grim22]

7 hours ago, Porthos said:

 

Not surprised in the least, as The Atlantic profile was that brutal.

 

It's been a long time since I read as devastating piece as I did that one.

 

1 hour ago, dudalb said:

It was very brutal. The bit about Licht forcing CNN to drop the term "Sexual Abuse: in refrenct to the Trump indicimtnet was really devastating. 

He will not be missed.

 

1 hour ago, dudalb said:

You really have to read the Atlantic Magazine article (it's all over the place on line)  to get why this was so fast.That artical was just brutal in it;s portrayal of Licht and his trying to slant CNN in favor of Donald Trump.

 

 

I wonder if the Atlantic profile was brutal. No way to know.

[dudalb]

22 minutes ago, grim22 said:

 

 

 

I wonder if the Atlantic profile was brutal. No way to know.

Brutal enough to trigger Zaslev to decide  Licht was a liability and had to go..........

Edited June 8, 2023 by dudalb

[excel1]

CNN is an absurdly famous news brand yet its rating were local cable level. They need to pull a Dominos and openly admit the recent products have sucked. 

[ChipDerby]

14 hours ago, excel1 said:

CNN is an absurdly famous news brand yet its rating were local cable level. They need to pull a Dominos and openly admit the recent products have sucked. 

 

What they need to do is go back to just reporting news. Stop with the opinion shows and talking heads. Just report news. Stop trying to cater to the right, because they will never ever watch you. But if you become a NEWS network instead of trying to be an entertainment network, you could at least gain back some respect.

[Porthos]

4 hours ago, ChipDerby said:

 

What they need to do is go back to just reporting news. Stop with the opinion shows and talking heads. Just report news. Stop trying to cater to the right, because they will never ever watch you. But if you become a NEWS network instead of trying to be an entertainment network, you could at least gain back some respect.

 

I don't know if you read that Atlantic piece of not, but that was a large part of Chris Licht's alleged m.o. 

 

Problem was.... LITERALLY EVERY MOVE HE MADE IN TRYING TO DO THAT!!!!

 

I actually came away with not a small amount of sympathy for Licht after reading that profile, which was no small thing considering my priors in regards to him.  But it was a "Wow this guy is in waaaaaaaay over his head and has no idea of how to do what he claims he wants to do/doesn't have remotely the right skill set to do what he claims he wants to do" kind of sympathy.  That plus just fundamentally misdiagnosing how to "just report the news".

 

Of course, all of that went out the window at that infamous Trump debacle.  As the column archly noted Licht abandoned his whole "not have people on this network who say that it’s not raining outside when it really is" schtick when push came to shove, and it blew up in his face.

 

I also think he wrong-footed on the whole Jan 6 coverage as instead of "just reporting the news" about the Jan 6 hearings, he ordered his staff to downplay the coverage because, IMO, he thought "just reporting the news" would look partisan.  If one can't even report that it's raining cats and dogs outside because you're afraid that doing so might upset some folks...

 

Well, can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and all that.

[dudalb]

33 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

I don't know if you read that Atlantic piece of not, but that was a large part of Chris Licht's alleged m.o. 

 

Problem was.... LITERALLY EVERY MOVE HE MADE IN TRYING TO DO THAT!!!!

 

I actually came away with not a small amount of sympathy for Licht after reading that profile, which was no small thing considering my priors in regards to him.  But it was a "Wow this guy is in waaaaaaaay over his head and has no idea of how to do what he claims he wants to do/doesn't have remotely the right skill set to do what he claims he wants to do" kind of sympathy.  That plus just fundamentally misdiagnosing how to "just report the news".

 

Of course, all of that went out the window at that infamous Trump debacle.  As the column archly noted Licht abandoned his whole "not have people on this network who say that it’s not raining outside when it really is" schtick when push came to shove, and it blew up in his face.

 

I also think he wrong-footed on the whole Jan 6 coverage as instead of "just reporting the news" about the Jan 6 hearings, he ordered his staff to downplay the coverage because, IMO, he thought "just reporting the news" would look partisan.  If one can't even report that it's raining cats and dogs outside because you're afraid that doing so might upset some folks...

 

Well, can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and all that.

Of course I am cynical enough to think that maybe Licht was just saying that in order to cover trying to make CNN into "Fox Lite";

but whatever the hell we was trying to do did not work. Best case is trying to take CNN to the Middle, he overcompensated and took it to far to the right. real problem I had was with packing the Town Hall with Trump supporters and, accordgn to several sources, discourage any negative reactions to trump from the audience.

And you have to wonder if a "back to the news" apparoch would work since most people gets their news from the Net , on their Tablets, or from Social Media nowdays. But I think it is worth a try as far as CNN is concerned,just be careful not to make the mistakes that Licht did

[ChipDerby]

I mean really for CNN your two options are to really carve out the "middle" and go heavy news, with an equal mix of R/D correspondants. Or lean hard left (which they won't do).

[dudalb]

25 minutes ago, ChipDerby said:

I mean really for CNN your two options are to really carve out the "middle" and go heavy news, with an equal mix of R/D correspondants. Or lean hard left (which they won't do).

I think trying to be another MSNBC won't work any better for them then trying to be another Fox did.

[dudalb]

Intersting to see how CNN Handles the huge news that just broke.....