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

[dudalb]

8 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

 

Oh Zaslav this is gonna really help your public image indeed...

And Rowling already had a contract with Warners......no news here at all. Just Zaslev in a filed attempt to improve his image.

[dudalb]

27 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

 

Just go on and continue to crater that stock buddy, everytime you open your mouth you say something ignorant and stupid.

Yeah, there is such a huge audience that id willing to pay for reality shows........

[Cappoedameron]

6 minutes ago, dudalb said:

And Rowling already had a contract with Warners......no news here at all. Just Zaslev in a filed attempt to improve his image.

Not sure supporting the transphobe is improving his image...

[cax16]

Lol Zaslav has tanked that stock big time all by himself, it’s pretty impressive. 

[JWR]

Yeah... not a good look.

[WittyUsername]

David Zaskav and Bob Chapek really need to know when to keep their mouths shut. 

[keysersoze123]

1 hour ago, cax16 said:

Lol Zaslav has tanked that stock big time all by himself, it’s pretty impressive. 

I am not supported Zaslav but entire stock market is a huge downturn. We are in a bear market. So just cannot rate a CEO by stock price. I would rather look at what is he doing for the business whether its top line/bottom line. 

[cax16]

12 minutes ago, keysersoze123 said:

I am not supported Zaslav but entire stock market is a huge downturn. We are in a bear market. So just cannot rate a CEO by stock price. I would rather look at what is he doing for the business whether its top line/bottom line. 

I honestly know nothing about stocks so my comment was really just a joke cause the company has tanked under him on the stock market. 
 

I think he’s made some hard decisions that had to be made but he’s terrible at communicating his vision for company and no one has confidence in him. We’ll see what happens in the future. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if WB was sold again as soon as it’s able to happen. 

[Potiki]

16 minutes ago, keysersoze123 said:

I am not supported Zaslav but entire stock market is a huge downturn. We are in a bear market. So just cannot rate a CEO by stock price. I would rather look at what is he doing for the business whether its top line/bottom line. 

Ignoring that WBD has done much worse than it's media peers since it was formed in April, they also missed on the top/bottom line as well, both down 8% year on year (excluding foreign exchange)

 

source (the first 3 bullet points after the quote from DZ): https://s201.q4cdn.com/336605034/files/doc_financials/2022/q3/WBD-3Q22-Earnings-Release-Final-11.3.22.pdf

 

Advertising and affiliate fees from cable are starting to really falter which is something that Zaslav was talking up as a way to pay down debt, streaming is not making up for lost revenue in those segments, theatrical is still challenged and the new heads of Warner and DC will take time to green light and release new films (probably 2-3 years) so are reliant on films made by the old regime.

 

The one thing they are talking up is a FAST (free ad supported) streaming service similar to Pluto or Tubi, that may help them some but likely not enough to offset the declines in their biggest segments.

[Macleod]

For a guy that seemingly wants to prioritize Superman, it's hilarious that he doesn't even know when the last Superman solo feature was released...

[clockwork]

Random question, but what did Ann Sarnoff accomplish during her short time at WB? It just feels like she simply came and went and she was there for about two and a half years. I wonder if Zasloff will even last as long as she did.

[Macleod]

6 hours ago, clockwork said:

Random question, but what did Ann Sarnoff accomplish during her short time at WB? It just feels like she simply came and went and she was there for about two and a half years. I wonder if Zasloff will even last as long as she did.

 

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/warnermedia-discovery-ann-sarnoff-out-merger-1235225791/

 

Her cross-department synergy was touted...but of course there was barely enough time to see anything through...and one can bet that most assuredly when Zaslov leaves, he and/or many stockholders at Warner Bros. will find ways to blame these "problematic" transitions on the circumstances they were dealt when they took over...and the first woman to hold the Chairman/CEO title at that studio.  

 

[BadOlCatSylvester]

I will always wonder where Warner would be had they not sacrificed their entire 2021 slate for HBO Max. ^{I imagine that universe is also the one where neither the Disney-Fox merger nor the Sony hack ever happened.} Would they have been financially stable enough to not be fed to Discovery? If Discovery were still able to buy them, would Zaslav have been less harsh?

[Macleod]

17 minutes ago, BadOlCatSylvester said:

I will always wonder where Warner would be had they not sacrificed their entire 2021 slate for HBO Max. ^{I imagine that universe is also the one where neither the Disney-Fox merger nor the Sony hack ever happened.} Would they have been financially stable enough to not be fed to Discovery? If Discovery were still able to buy them, would Zaslav have been less harsh?

 

The reality was that most of the movies that had produced for release that year were simply not very good...and there were indications that they knew that internally at the studio...so at least a good portion of the leadership supported the straight-to-streaming model.  And I suppose some of that *could* be traced to movies that went into production under Sarnoff, although she only joined in mid-2019...so many of these things would have been in prep by then...so...we would arguably go back to the previous regime for greenlighting questions...  "It's complicated."  😁 

[Cappoedameron]

 

[HouseOfTheSun]

3 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

 

This show has absolutely laughable ratings. Not much of a streaming audience. And it cost 100m+ a season. Should’ve been axed after it’s horrendous 3rd season performance tbh. 

[filmlover]

4 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

 

Does this really shock anyone? It was never able to capitalize on its early "HBO's Next Sopranos/Game of Thrones" buzz and arrived with less fanfare each season. I didn't even bother watching the fourth season because I had mostly lost interest by the end of the third and figured this was going to end without a proper resolution given how quiet the chatter for it was.

[TMP]

11 minutes ago, Cappoedameron said:

 

joy & nolan already jumped ship to fallout on amazon, so i guess this was a matter of time

[Macleod]

I checked out midway through Season 2...and never looked back.  

[JWR]

Unfortunate but not unexpected.