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

[Macleod]

5 hours ago, grim22 said:

I was genuinely thinking about Abrams and WB yesterday, but more in terms of a Superman movie. Handing a Superman movie to Abrams is such a non-brainer I am surprised it didn't happen yet, and then i realized none of Abrams's projects in his WB deal have actually started production yet. 

 

Wonder what is the behind the scenes holdup on them?

 

The hold-up equals too many hands in development, and no one can agree on a direction.  But of course if you have a clear producing direction, that can often be settled.  It's proof that Abrams' Producing talent is becoming a real mixed bag.  This deal for Warner Bros. has yielded *nothing* actually getting made so far!  And it sounds like "Speed Racer" -- if it happens -- is going to APPLE, which means Warners passed on it for HBOMax (!)  By contrast, Greg Berlanti has been Warners/DC Comics' golden boy in terms of producing and revenue, outshining all the feature film developments in profit vs. cost ratio!  

 

Abrams, of course, has been tied to on/off Superman projects since the early 2000s at Warner Bros.!  But there were already rumblings that the Coates-written project may not be getting greenlighted!  

 

And I maintain that even though they aren't involved "officially" on paper right now, Abrams would like to bring back Kurtzman into the fold over on Star Trek features at Paramount, as well...and they are both obviously working towards that end.  I suspect that somehow Abrams' Bad Robot scored a longterm contract deal with Paramount for TREK films. something like *any* Trek feature that gets made for the next ten years, they get to Produce and get a piece of.  

 

And yes, I was kind of surprised that Warner Bros. signed this deal with Abrams knowing that he still had things going on at Paramount, etc., and possibly elsewhere!  

Edited May 26, 2022 by Macleod

[Potiki]

A lot of people on here don't release how long it takes to develop, write and produce a big budget TV show I see.

 

Say what you want about his his output but JJ has been busy he was an EP on Little Voice, Lovecraft County and Lisey's Story all for WBTV plus he was EP on two additional docuseries, all this whilst creating writing Demimonde and Dusters and working as an EP on about another half dozen other WB series in various stages of development. That is much better output than Netflix has had from their big deals with Murphy, Barris and Shonda for instance all of which started well before the JJ deal.

 

Zaslav is used to dealing with unscripted fare and it shows, between this and the Eastwood news I'm thinking some creative relationships will be burned. 

 

 

[Ryan Reynolds]

1 hour ago, Potiki said:

A lot of people on here don't release how long it takes to develop, write and produce a big budget TV show I see.

 

Say what you want about his his output but JJ has been busy he was an EP on Little Voice, Lovecraft County and Lisey's Story all for WBTV plus he was EP on two additional docuseries, all this whilst creating writing Demimonde and Dusters and working as an EP on about another half dozen other WB series in various stages of development. That is much better output than Netflix has had from their big deals with Murphy, Barris and Shonda for instance all of which started well before the JJ deal.

 

Zaslav is used to dealing with unscripted fare and it shows, between this and the Eastwood news I'm thinking some creative relationships will be burned. 

 

 

i was in shock about Eastwood comments

[Macleod]

3 hours ago, Potiki said:

A lot of people on here don't release how long it takes to develop, write and produce a big budget TV show I see.

 

Say what you want about his his output but JJ has been busy he was an EP on Little Voice, Lovecraft County and Lisey's Story all for WBTV plus he was EP on two additional docuseries, all this whilst creating writing Demimonde and Dusters and working as an EP on about another half dozen other WB series in various stages of development. That is much better output than Netflix has had from their big deals with Murphy, Barris and Shonda for instance all of which started well before the JJ deal.

 

Zaslav is used to dealing with unscripted fare and it shows, between this and the Eastwood news I'm thinking some creative relationships will be burned. 

 

Lovecraft was a one-off, but probably one of the few relative well-made successes that Abrams has been associated with in recent years, so that's a good one on record.  

 

Little Voice sold to Apple, canceled after one season.  I never even heard of it until now.  

 

Lisey's Story was limited/one-off, and not received very well, sold to Apple. 

 

Demimonde is on the bubble to actually go into production or not due to its costs, according to The Hollywood Reporter's piece on all of this.  I'd say a 4-year development stage (even during a pandemic) is enough to know whether you want to go to series or not.  

 

Duster has been shot (I think) last fall, but no word on what it will amount to.  

 

His Producing credits on everything else he's currently developing for Warner Bros. and DC are what the subject of this recent journalism/discussion is about.  The word is that most of his projects are not proceeding with real results, and if they are, they are too expensive -- at least according to Zaslav, and he is the new boss.  

 

I love Eastwood, too, always will, but let's be real -- CRY MACHO was a disappointment, and his best filmmaking days are arguably behind him (but I'd love for him to prove me wrong).  As always, when new executives come in, they naturally want to go a new way, but yes, he's clearly a businessman first and a sensitive creative executive second.  But I think that might be good for Warner Bros. right now.  

[Jonwo]

The only things that Eastwood has going for him in that he's easy to work with and he delivers on time and on budget and I think Zaslav would want him in the fold as he probably only has a few more films left in him before he pops his clogs but I suspect they want more films like Sully and The Mule than Cry Macho.

[dudalb]

12 hours ago, Macleod said:

 

Lovecraft was a one-off, but probably one of the few relative well-made successes that Abrams has been associated with in recent years, so that's a good one on record.  

 

Little Voice sold to Apple, canceled after one season.  I never even heard of it until now.  

 

Lisey's Story was limited/one-off, and not received very well, sold to Apple. 

 

Demimonde is on the bubble to actually go into production or not due to its costs, according to The Hollywood Reporter's piece on all of this.  I'd say a 4-year development stage (even during a pandemic) is enough to know whether you want to go to series or not.  

 

Duster has been shot (I think) last fall, but no word on what it will amount to.  

 

His Producing credits on everything else he's currently developing for Warner Bros. and DC are what the subject of this recent journalism/discussion is about.  The word is that most of his projects are not proceeding with real results, and if they are, they are too expensive -- at least according to Zaslav, and he is the new boss.  

 

I love Eastwood, too, always will, but let's be real -- CRY MACHO was a disappointment, and his best filmmaking days are arguably behind him (but I'd love for him to prove me wrong).  As always, when new executives come in, they naturally want to go a new way, but yes, he's clearly a businessman first and a sensitive creative executive second.  But I think that might be good for Warner Bros. right now.  

Being the main creative force is NOT the CEO's job. His job is running the company. The creative decisions are left to the Studio' head (a Zaslev is NOT the head of Warners Brs  Studio;he is the head of the whole Warners Organzation) and the Chief of Production at the studio. The ultimate decision to give the green light is Zaslev's of course, but the main creative work is not what he was hired to do.

[Macleod]

7 hours ago, dudalb said:

Being the main creative force is NOT the CEO's job. His job is running the company. The creative decisions are left to the Studio' head (a Zaslev is NOT the head of Warners Brs  Studio;he is the head of the whole Warners Organzation) and the Chief of Production at the studio. The ultimate decision to give the green light is Zaslev's of course, but the main creative work is not what he was hired to do.

 

OK, call it what you want.  "Business decisions."  How come so many projects are being canceled/rumored to be canceled, and stories are already emerging about his decision-making?  He's clearly putting his stamp on everything and asking where the money's going.  And yes, the creative organization of inside divisions will change at his behest, because he ultimately gets to decide where the money goes.  

[dudalb]

On 5/26/2022 at 8:47 PM, Macleod said:

 

OK, call it what you want.  "Business decisions."  How come so many projects are being canceled/rumored to be canceled, and stories are already emerging about his decision-making?  He's clearly putting his stamp on everything and asking where the money's going.  And yes, the creative organization of inside divisions will change at his behest, because he ultimately gets to decide where the money goes.  

I am not denying Zaslev will have a impact on the studio's films, but in the end his job is not really orignating projects, but making final judgements on which projects to fund. Of course once in a while he might develop a idea of his own, but that is not his primary job. He just does not have the time for that.

[dudalb]

The Babylon 5 reboot seems on trackm which is actually the project at WB I am most interested in.

All  I can say about Babylon 5 is the original series in being streamed on HBO/Max, and you are really, really, missing somehting very good if you have not seen it.

[Napoleon]

I wish Zaslav forces them into making another Justice League movie. I would take any director (as long as it's someone who doesn't abuse the cast), and even a goofy tone, but I just want to see this cast together again 🥲

 

[Spidey Freak]

On 5/25/2022 at 8:03 PM, Potiki said:

That is much better output than Netflix has had from their big deals with Murphy, Barris and Shonda for instance all of which started well before the JJ deal.

 

Shondaland's first show for Netflix is their highest watched English language show with a huge margin, with Season 2 outdoing Season 1, and Inventing Anna was No. 1 on the streaming charts for weeks too. Her results so far are much better than Abrams', especially if you go by the reported deals of 100M vs. Abrams' 250M.

[Potiki]

12 minutes ago, Spidey Freak said:

 

Shondaland's first show for Netflix is their highest watched English language show with a huge margin, with Season 2 outdoing Season 1, and Inventing Anna was No. 1 on the streaming charts for weeks too. Her results so far are much better than Abrams', especially if you go by the reported deals of 100M vs. Abrams' 250M.

She doesn't have the volume of shows though and whilst she has performed the best of the Netflix mega deals she got 1 mega hit and 1 hit ( if I'm being generous and including Inventing Anna in the original period ... which means you may as well include Westworld for JJ) out of what seems to have been a 4 year deal, the rest were misses. Also that $100m is probably a lot higher now that they expanded those terms after, as I mentioned, her multi-year presumably finished last year. 

 

https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-and-shonda-rhimes-expand-creative-pact

[Jonwo]

Toby Emmerich out at Warner Bros:

https://deadline.com/2022/06/toby-emmerich-warner-bros-departure-1235036598/

 

Considering Emmerich survived multiple changes, I guess Zaslav really want a clean slate.

 

The most interesting is that Zaslav wants to have live action, Animation and DC to be headed by their own people.

 

[BruiseCruise]

Also mentions Zaslav wants Todd Philips to work in some kind of advisory capacity and they've built a good rapport. 

[Jonwo]

14 minutes ago, BruiseCruise said:

Also mentions Zaslav wants Todd Philips to work in some kind of advisory capacity and they've built a good rapport. 

I like Todd Phillips but he's not suitable for a lot of projects.

[cax16]

Honestly overall I like what he’s doing, I’ll wait to see what happens with how movies get green lit etc before I judge anymore. 

[TestPattern]

27 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

Toby Emmerich out at Warner Bros:

https://deadline.com/2022/06/toby-emmerich-warner-bros-departure-1235036598/

 

Considering Emmerich survived multiple changes, I guess Zaslav really want a clean slate.

 

The most interesting is that Zaslav wants to have live action, Animation and DC to be headed by their own people.

 

Forget about DC for second, the animation unit becoming it's own separate vertical is fantastic. It's shocking how poorly their theatrical animation output is when you look at what they accomplish through TV, DTV, and streaming.

[BruiseCruise]

4 minutes ago, Jonwo said:

I like Todd Phillips but he's not suitable for a lot of projects.

Maybe he wants Philips to oversee DC Black projects or atleast give ideas/recommendations for filmmakers

[Jonwo]

Just now, TestPattern said:

Forget about DC for second, the animation unit becoming it's own separate vertical is fantastic. It's shocking how poorly their theatrical animation output is when you look at what they accomplish through TV, DTV, and streaming.

TBH I'm surprised making Animation one company wasn't done sooner. I would think that rebranding WAG as Warner Bros Animation would simplify things and allow them to utilise the vast IP they own alongside original ideas. 

[dudalb]

4 hours ago, Jonwo said:

Toby Emmerich out at Warner Bros:

https://deadline.com/2022/06/toby-emmerich-warner-bros-departure-1235036598/

 

Considering Emmerich survived multiple changes, I guess Zaslav really want a clean slate.

 

The most interesting is that Zaslav wants to have live action, Animation and DC to be headed by their own people.

 

He is cleaning house bigtime.

For those you familiar with Hollywood History, it is like Zaslev is chaneling Jack Warner, who was quick to clean house if the earnings were down.

The trick, of course, is finding Kevin Feige's to full those three positions.