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

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1 hour ago, TMP said:

Yeah... WB seems to be run a lot worse than any of the other majors. A shame, since they have the most diversified output by far.

This is all AT&T.  Bart and Fleming explain a summarized history of corporate/tech ownership in their Deadline piece -- read the whole conversation, it's great.  This kind of takeover and intrusion almost never works, at least not long-term.  Here, it's imploding pretty spectacularly, pretty quickly.

 

8 minutes ago, meridan said:

Why are people going in on WB so hard? All of this is happening due the higher-ups at AT&T. Those people don't care about the "theatrical model". They are a communications company. 

Perception is everything.  *We* here may know some of these ins and outs about corporate ownership, but a large segment of whatever general audience cares about this stuff just sees "Warner Bros." or "WarnerMedia" or "HBOMax" -- so this will affect everything.  And yes, Warners will have to take some of the blame for this.  AT&T gutted WarnerBros., and they are reaping their own mismanagement.  There is a new future on the horizon, but their abrupt switchover is arguably not the way to approach it.  And now they've probably ruined numerous big $$$ talent relationships, as well. 

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9 minutes ago, BeastByTheBay said:

Legendary not knowing anything about this is hilarious considering that Jason Momoa once posted a video of himself jogging from the DC Films office to the Legendary office next door 😂

I think that was the day he signed on for Dune, lol

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4 hours ago, Chicago said:

If cinemas can survive world war 2 they will survive this. Streaming will continue to grow but to suggest there will be no going back to normality really is exaggerating. Countries like New Zealand have already started going back to normal.

 

Cinemas did really well in WW2 though. It was the height of moviegoing in the US and even the UK. 

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Legendary ending their partnership with WB wouldn’t exactly be a big loss for them, but the idea that AT&T or whoever apparently didn’t bother informing Legendary about this beforehand is insane. How do you make a major decision like that without consulting your business partners? 

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3 hours ago, filmlover said:

It really sounds like WB woke up on Thursday and just said "fuck it, everything must go." Not at all a surprise the people involved in these movies (some of which are still in post or, in the case of the Eastwood movie, still being made at this moment) are really ticked off right now.

 

Feels like we haven't seen this level of industry backlash since the Academy tried to pull that Popular Oscar bullshit two years ago.

 

And Popular Film Oscar, while a bad idea, wouldn't have been nearly as consequential as WB putting their entire 2021 slate onto streaming right away. The Oscars change was just about prestige, but this is about money. 

 

1 hour ago, filmlover said:

Also in the Deadline article:

 

Legendary Challenge WarnerMedia Over ‘Dune’ & Godzilla Vs. Kong?’ – Deadline

 

This could get ugly. Guessing In the Heights is definitely one of them (given LMM's power).

Imagine if this HBO Max move really has to be walked back. I mean, they will probably try paying up to make these issues go away, but that might not work in every case.

 

It feels like so many entertainment media/Film Twitter types were  so eager to declare the death of theatrical that they just glossed over what a desperation move this was from Warner/AT&T and that it might not be well thought out move on their part. The default assumption tends to be that this big corporation must have run some sort of algorithm that made a clear case and this must be a rational, informed decision. Surely a big corporation couldn't have panicked and hastily made a stupid move, right? LOL

Edited by BoxOfficeFangrl
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https://deadline.com/2020/12/warnermedia-legendary-challenge-dune-godzilla-vs-kong-streamer-battles-looming-1234651283/

Their compensation template:

Quote

Here, Warners eyes the 2021 slate as theatrical releases, with a new window in HBO Max. For talent that has box office bonuses, Warners has accelerated the start-in point of when the talent will start to receive those bonuses, by half. Meaning, if someone had a bonus coming if the film hit $300 million of worldwide box office, that number is now $150 million to reflect the box office potential loss in the U.S. for people using their existing HBO subscription to access HBO Max, or who sign up for the streaming service and/or the impact of the pandemic. Bonuses are usually laddered, and subsequent bonuses goals are also being cut in half, meaning the distance to get to extra bumps is reduced by half.

Further, Warners, which usually makes approximately an average of 50% of theatrical box office revenue available to cash break participants, will for these 17 films include that same amount as a license fee for the 31-day HBO Max window. That money will go into the pot from which back-end is calculated with the deal definitions for talent and filmmakers remaining the same as under their respective contracts. Warners is also agreeing to minimum floors for these license fees of the greater of $10 million or 25% of the net cost of the film. Warners is also adjusting the 31-day HBO Max license fee for closed theaters when films are released.

If the number of theaters average less than 75% of the usual, rather than the HBO Max license fee being 100% of U.S. theatrical rentals thrown in the pot, it will be 125%; if less than 50% of theaters are open, the imputed license fee will be computed based on 150% of U.S. rentals; if less than 25%, then 175% of U.S. rentals.

 

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13 minutes ago, BoxOfficeFangrl said:

 

And Popular Film Oscar, while a bad idea, wouldn't have been nearly as consequential as WB putting their entire 2021 slate onto streaming right away. The Oscars change was just about prestige, but this is about money. 

 

Imagine if this HBO Max move really has to be walked back. I mean, they will probably try paying up to make these issues go away, but that might not work in every case.

 

It feels like so many entertainment media/Film Twitter types were  so eager to declare the death of theatrical that they just glossed over what a desperation move this was from Warner/AT&T and that it might not be well thought out move on their part. The default assumption tends to be that this big corporation must have run some sort of algorithm that made a clear case and this must be a rational, informed decision. Surely a big corporation couldn't have panicked and hastily made a stupid move, right? LOL

This all could've been avoided had they consulted the talent behind these movies and made a deal with them before making the announcement but no, pretty much everything so far indicates they made this move fully expecting said talent to take this news lying down. It's all AT&T's doing obviously but still. Hard to imagine too many people are gonna be eager to work with a studio/company that engages in such shady business practices going forward.

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Villeneuve is not happy about this either.

 

Quote

Denis Villeneuve, the director of “Dune,” is similarly disappointed with the HBO Max plan and would prefer a traditional theatrical release for his movie, according to insiders. The “Dune” adaptation is intended to be the first of a two-part retelling of Frank Herbert’s seminal 1965 novel. The big-budget sci-fi epic — starring Timothee Chalamet, Oscar Isaac and Zendaya — was initially greenlit with the intention of launching on the big screen. It’s too early to know if the planned sequel would follow the same rollout as the first. Other filmmakers involved in the movie are also privately unhappy with the move.

'Dune' Producer Legendary May Sue Warner Bros. Over HBO Max Deal - Variety

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35 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Villeneuve is not happy about this either.

His next project is a show at HBO too, with Gyllenhaal. And he's set to direct the pilot for the Dune HBO Max show. Would be really bad for WarnerMedia to lose him over this

Edited by TMP
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6 hours ago, eddyxx said:

People are laughing at this but it’s true. It’s the same way a lot of businesses are discussing continuing to do work from home to save on office space.

 

Yes, you're right.

They're laughing because they lack of vision or just have nostalgia and really hope deep down nothing will change but truth is streaming and work from home are gonna stay and will continue theor growth moving forward: that's the reality of this industry.

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Dune will flop if released theatrically. Was not going to do more than 400M worldwide in normal conditions. With 175M tag + 150M marketing + other expenses = bomb blade runner 2/tron/Alita style.

Now, it has zero chance of doing even 300M ww because such sci-fi movies have zero appeal. 

 

KongvsG had potential, but last film was a flop. 

 

Terrible situation all around. Legendary should cut their ties with WB and ask netflix to buy them.

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Stankey ruined everything. I was so excited after Fandome this year. I realize WB is more then DC but moves like this are gonna deter good talent from wanting to work with them on any projects. 
 

So disappointing. 

Edited by cax16
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5 hours ago, Fullbuster said:

 

Yes, you're right.

They're laughing because they lack of vision or just have nostalgia and really hope deep down nothing will change but truth is streaming and work from home are gonna stay and will continue theor growth moving forward: that's the reality of this industry.

If you only want sagas and brands then yes. Theatres are not the only ones in danger but also creators who now will have to attach to algorythms to see if can have a project greenlit or not and instead go to direct the 100th part of anoooother saga. And still I don't know if studios can carry 8+ $200M projects for streaming services when it's clear that there is a limit for growth unless they burn money for many many years. Disney can't afford that in the short term as they already don't have any other source of revenue and AT&T/Warner Media have a large debt.

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In one of the articles it literally said WB spoke to epidemiologist about covid in the states and how things wouldn’t be back to normal in the us till the end of 2021.
 

All they had to do was speak to talent before hand and explain the situation, say the movies would still release overseas and would open simultaneously in the states on Hbomax/theatres so everyone felt safe etc. And of course then pay out the talent as well and I’m sure everyone would of been a lot happier. This was just such an awful mishandling of the situation. 

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