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

[WittyUsername]

There is really no defending David Zaslav. Just because the man has experience with Discovery, does not mean he’s a good choice to headline a major Hollywood studio. He clearly has no regard for the basic “rules” of the industry. People were mad at Jason Kilar for the day and date strategy, but at least he still allowed those films to see the light of day, and he ended up compensating people for it. Zaslav just seems like a cheapskate and an asshole who’s stuck in the 2000s. Who even cares about reality shows in the year of our lord? 

[Cappoedameron]

19 minutes ago, filmlover said:

 

Throwing this away makes even less sense than Batgirl since the budget was "only" $40M and Scooby-Doo has always been a license to print money. I can't imagine why anyone would now want to work for a studio that has revealed they have no problem tossing away completed projects just for tax reasons unless absolutely no one else would hire them.

Also this movie followed the budget Zaslav had for HBO Max so it just makes no sense whatsoever. He wants to cater to people that are closer to the grave then people that are gonna be creating the future. His strategy makes zero sense and going into a quarterly meeting I'm shocked that there's so much negative press but at least people are talking about him.

 

It's just all just incredibly negative press.

[filmlover]

There's also speculation in that Variety that the House Party reboot (which was supposed to land on Max this summer) is also being used as a tax write-off as well.

 

One thing is clear: if there is an HBO Max exclusive you've been meaning to watch and have been putting off, now is certainly the time to do it cause it seems obvious they're beginning to purge the service of its content.

[wildphantom]

33 minutes ago, filmlover said:

 

Throwing this away makes even less sense than Batgirl since the budget was "only" $40M and Scooby-Doo has always been a license to print money. I can't imagine why anyone would now want to work for a studio that has revealed they have no problem tossing away completed projects just for tax reasons unless absolutely no one else would hire them.

I see it as the opposite. 
filmmakers can see this new regime are much more anti ‘straight to free tv’ than the last one. They’re making moves to right the ship after the debacle of the last lot that pulled the rug from under WB’s legacy.  
 

Granted, they’re shelving in-production high IP movies that were going to HBO Max, but maybe they see it pointless giving this stuff away. I’ve never thought the numbers added up. 

[Cappoedameron]

 

Ooh it's negative after negative with this guy. He's really messing with the wrong demographic here.

 

 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Cappoedameron

[WittyUsername]

Just now, Cappoedameron said:

 

Ooh it's negative after negative with this guy. He's really messing with the wrong demographic here.

Wasn’t it reported a few weeks ago that Zaslav also wants WB movies to be shown in Russia again? 

[filmlover]

2 minutes ago, wildphantom said:

I see it as the opposite. 
filmmakers can see this new regime are much more anti ‘straight to free tv’ than the last one. They’re making moves to right the ship after the debacle of the last lot that pulled the rug from under WB’s legacy.  
 

Granted, they’re shelving in-production high IP movies that were going to HBO Max, but maybe they see it pointless giving this stuff away. I’ve never thought the numbers added up. 

Throwing away multiple completed projects is virtually unprecedented. And a terrible look for anyone. I don't buy the "quality" argument either. Bad movies are released all the time. This is the same studio that decided something as heinous as Suicide Squad '16 was worth inflicting upon the world not too long ago, after all. 

[Cappoedameron]

My viewpoint of Zaslav is he's just a cheap mofo involving himself in something way too big to comprehend. 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Cappoedameron

[reddevil19]

30 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

Ooh it's negative after negative with this guy. He's really messing with the wrong demographic here.

 

 

 

I think the idea of going back to a theatrical-first model is great. Definitely on board with that. But the way he's doing it is mind-boggling. He's burning bridges left, right and centre by applying a very reality show ethos of "I'm not here to make friends", in a town notorious for its nepotism and mutual back-scratching. As cutthroat as the industry is, somewhere down the line, that statement will come back to bite him.

[wildphantom]

29 minutes ago, filmlover said:

Throwing away multiple completed projects is virtually unprecedented. And a terrible look for anyone. I don't buy the "quality" argument either. Bad movies are released all the time. This is the same studio that decided something as heinous as Suicide Squad '16 was worth inflicting upon the world not too long ago, after all. 

but how much money did SS make? That’s kind of my point. 
 

Batgirl, no matter how good or bad it is, wasn’t going to make a dime really. 
 

We don’t know how bad the projections look over at WB for the investment they’ve put in for streaming.  

[BruiseCruise]

2 minutes ago, wildphantom said:

but how much money did SS make? That’s kind of my point. 
 

Batgirl, no matter how good or bad it is, wasn’t going to make a dime really. 
 

We don’t know how bad the projections look over at WB for the investment they’ve put in for streaming.  

Way more than Gunns version which DC nerds hold up as some holy grail even though it lost them 9 figures

[Eric the Minion]

3 minutes ago, wildphantom said:

but how much money did SS make? That’s kind of my point. 
 

Batgirl, no matter how good or bad it is, wasn’t going to make a dime really. 
 

We don’t know how bad the projections look over at WB for the investment they’ve put in for streaming.  

So it's fine if artists are treated like dirt? That a film people put their hard work in, and one that wasn't even that expensive, should just be left behind and away from the public just because it was intended for a streaming service and "won't make money"?

 

I get your whole schtick is "grrr streaming bad", but this is gross anti-art stuff right here and I think even you have to admit this is a teeny bit unfair to the filmmakers and cast and crew behind this project.

[filmlover]

FWIW there's been a tweet going around that The Flash now carries a $300M budget (I sure hope not lol) and I think we all have to agree there's pretty much no chance of that seeing a profit at this point. But you don't see anyone calling for it to be thrown into a furnace all because it faces such an uphill battle to make money (of course there are other reasons why a lot of people want to see that movie buried but that's a completely different story).

[Cappoedameron]

1 minute ago, filmlover said:

FWIW there's been a tweet going around that The Flash now carries a $300M budget (I sure hope not lol) and I think we all have to agree there's pretty much no chance of that seeing a profit at this point. But you don't see anyone calling for it to be thrown into a furnace all because it faces such an uphill battle to make money (of course there are other reasons why a lot of people want to see that movie buried but that's a completely different story).

It would not surprise me if one of the announcements at the quarterly is that movie is canned.

 

Seems Zaslav is ready to just destroy everything WB had before.

Edited August 3, 2022 by Cappoedameron

[reddevil19]

1 minute ago, BruiseCruise said:

Way more than Gunns version which DC nerds hold up as some holy grail even though it lost them 9 figures

I don't think anyone outside the previous regime will argue that what WB did with their slate last year was anything but sheer idiocy. The focus being theatrical for such productions is a welcome development. But when you're literally burning the whole place down, it will inevitably generate negative buzz. There's plenty of low-to-medium cost content that could have continued to thrive on MAX. If they kill the service, a lot of that content will probably not migrate on to HBO proper.

 

So the question now is...what is WB's goal as a studio? Any TV content is exclusively for HBO, and possibly SOME commissioned content from other services (unlikely to be Disney, Paramount or Universal because they're still fully backing their own services and will want their own in-house stuff, which will leave Prime and Netflix, but even there it's sketchy). Feature films - what, are they going 3-6 tentpoles per year and possibly a couple smaller budget movies provided the ROI is a guaranteed 5 to 1 (thereby probably putting off a lot of directors that would otherwise work within that 20-60 million range)?

 

Zaslav so far has come in looking like a very efficient cost cutter, but the problem is once they write off a lot of these and cut fat, there still has to be a viable strategy to move forward and that seems to be missing, beyond an apparent doubling down on non-scripted and maybe a shift to the right politically (which is strange again because the lines have bene drawn and any pandering to the right still won't get them viewers on CNN, after years of brainwashing by Fox that anything else is "FAKE".

 

 

[Cappoedameron]

16 minutes ago, wildphantom said:

but how much money did SS make? That’s kind of my point. 
 

Batgirl, no matter how good or bad it is, wasn’t going to make a dime really. 
 

We don’t know how bad the projections look over at WB for the investment they’ve put in for streaming.  

https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1386697/?ref_=bo_se_r_1

 

Suicide Squad made close to 750 million dollars.

[WittyUsername]

I’m already seeing people on certain corners of Twitter who are happy about Batgirl getting canceled, solely because they think it was “woke.” These are the kinds of people Zaslav is emboldening. Honestly, I think people might have been might too hard on Bob Chapek…

[cax16]

24 minutes ago, BruiseCruise said:

Way more than Gunns version which DC nerds hold up as some holy grail even though it lost them 9 figures

Ya except the first version ruined the IP, who cares if your movie makes over 700m when it destroyed the brand. Gunn had to work off the first ones awful wom and go day and date with hbomax. Not that it would of done a ton either way but let’s not pretend one movie isn’t way better then the other. 

 

 

 

[Cappoedameron]

 

 

Edited August 3, 2022 by Cappoedameron

[BruiseCruise]

6 minutes ago, cax16 said:

Ya except the first version ruined the IP, who cares if your movie makes over 700m when it destroyed the brand. Gunn had to work off the first ones awful wom and go day and date with hbomax. Not that it would of done a ton either way but let’s not pretend one movie isn’t way better then the other. 

 

 

 

Miss me with this cope ass argument, outside of critics and hardcore dc nerds nobody though gunns suicide squad was anything special and the idea that it absolutely bombed cause of a movie from 6 years ago is laughable, even batman begins did half decent despite following up after batman and robin or MOS after superman returns. Also if ayers suicide squad was so awful how did it do so well at the BO without china? Clearly general audiences didn't hate it as much as people online do

 

Not that ayers movie was good but lets not act like it was morbius or dark phoenix. Internet nerds just overblow a movies reputation when they don't like like say Avatar

Edited August 3, 2022 by BruiseCruise