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

[dudalb]

1 hour ago, WittyUsername said:

Being a “fan” of any of these media conglomerates is silly, whether it’s WB, Disney, Universal, Netflix, etc. Corporations are not your friends. 
 

And yeah, it is annoying to me how a lot of people seem absolutely gung-ho about shilling for WB, especially on Twitter and Reddit. So many people seem deadset on praising/defending Zaslav at every possible step, just because they like DC. 

What is interesitng is that other DC fans hate Zaselv's guts since he pretty much gutted the DC TV shows.

But Yeah, rooting for Zaslev because you  like DC makes no sense.

[Scubasteve716]

Can’t be a fan of studios because corporations aren’t your friends might be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Guess I can’t be a Packer fan anymore cuz corporations are bad. Like the local pizza chain down the road? Too bad corporations aren’t your friend. Collect Jordan’s? That’s dumb cuz corporations aren’t your friend. Like your VW, need a new car and thinking about buying the same kind? Preposterous. Like a bunch of shows on a certain channel well you can’t be a fan of that channel since it’s owned by a corporation. Like a certain radio channel? Guess again. XBOX, PlayStation, Nintendo? I guess none since they’re all pesky corporations. 

[WittyUsername]

15 minutes ago, Scubasteve716 said:

Can’t be a fan of studios because corporations aren’t your friends might be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Guess I can’t be a Packer fan anymore cuz corporations are bad. Like the local pizza chain down the road? Too bad corporations aren’t your friend. Collect Jordan’s? That’s dumb cuz corporations aren’t your friend. Like your VW, need a new car and thinking about buying the same kind? Preposterous. Like a bunch of shows on a certain channel well you can’t be a fan of that channel since it’s owned by a corporation. Like a certain radio channel? Guess again. XBOX, PlayStation, Nintendo? I guess none since they’re all pesky corporations. 

I don’t consider being a fan of what a corporation puts out to be the same as being a fan of the corporation itself. All I’m saying is that I’ve seen a lot of people go out of their way to root for WBD and defend David Zaslav from any kind of criticism, which I find embarrassing. 

Edited January 10 by WittyUsername

[excel1]

People rooting for Zaslav or Iger want WBD or Disney to stay (and thrive) as large media company, probably because the people doing the rooting are fans of the content the companies make. 🙄

 

Obviously people can be fans of companies whose product they like and wish for them to successful, what a strange thing to otherwise insinuate. @Scubasteve716 is 100% on point. 

Edited January 11 by excel1

[excel1]

1 hour ago, WittyUsername said:

 I’ve seen a lot of people go out of their way to root for WBD and defend David Zaslav from any kind of criticism, which I find embarrassing. 

 

It isn't "defending" Zaslav to note that he took over an epic dumpster fire and was going to have to make extremely tough choices for the company to right itself, it is being factual. 100x more common than any unfair "defending" is the "unreasonable hating" by outsiders who seem to have a primitive grasp of how a company of that size functions. 

Edited January 11 by excel1

[excel1]

3 hours ago, Maggie said:

I don't know if Zaslav is interested in quality product or just making money

 

Funny, one usually reaches the latter by producing the former, they're very much intertwined. 

[dudalb]

2 minutes ago, excel1 said:

 

It isn't "defending" Zaslav to note that he took over an epic dumpster fire and was going to have to make extremely tough choices for the company to right itself, it is being factual. 100x more common than any unfair "defending" is the "unreasonable hating" by outsiders who seem to have a primitive grasp of how a company of that size functions. 

II  agree Zaslev had to make touch choiches when he came on board, when a studio is in debt trouble the most urgent thing it to cut the amount of red ink flowing, and that means budget cuts, and that is always a painful process. he was right in axing a number of streamin shows that the DC fanboys loved but no one else did and for which he got ripped here. But since he had made an number of really bad decisions as far as WB goes.

 

[dudalb]

7 minutes ago, excel1 said:

 

Funny, one usually reaches the latter by producing the former, they're very much intertwined. 

I wish that were the case . It's not. We all the time see good movies fail at the box office, and pretty crappy ones make money.

[dallas]

16 minutes ago, excel1 said:

 

It isn't "defending" Zaslav to note that he took over an epic dumpster fire and was going to have to make extremely tough choices for the company to right itself, it is being factual. 100x more common than any unfair "defending" is the "unreasonable hating" by outsiders who seem to have a primitive grasp of how a company of that size functions. 

I agree. I don't think Zaslav is a particularly great person, nor do I believe he is exempt from all blame, but I do believe that given the state of Warner Bros, the unpopular decisions being made were a necessity. WB is paying off their debt at a solid pace and even Max is at a point where it's losing a minimal amount of cash (which is great for a streaming service). Again, I don't believe Zaslav is a terrific human being, but he's getting the job done and clearly people are willing to work under him, so I don't think all is terrible at Warner Bros. Sue me. 

[keysersoze123]

Biggest issue was regulators letting AT&T purchase WB with huge leverage. these leveraged buy out have to be prevented. Its never good for the acquired company as they are going to be the saddled with debt. Private Equity does it all the time. Like doing LBO to take Toysrus private back in mid 2000s and they went bankrupt around 12 years post that. 

 

That said cannot justify just canning movies already completed. I am not convinced the tax write off is that good that they did not even try to shop the movie elsewhere as is before doing it. if the tax write is that good, it requires the code have to be fixed. 

[WittyUsername]

2 hours ago, dallas said:

I agree. I don't think Zaslav is a particularly great person, nor do I believe he is exempt from all blame, but I do believe that given the state of Warner Bros, the unpopular decisions being made were a necessity. WB is paying off their debt at a solid pace and even Max is at a point where it's losing a minimal amount of cash (which is great for a streaming service). Again, I don't believe Zaslav is a terrific human being, but he's getting the job done and clearly people are willing to work under him, so I don't think all is terrible at Warner Bros. Sue me. 

Canceling Batgirl isn’t something I think can be justified no matter how you slice it. He could’ve just sold it to another streamer like they’re trying to do with the Wile E. Coyote movie. 
 

Also, the lengths they went to when they tried to sell people on The Flash completely blew up in their face. The various marketing stunts they pulled with that film will always be embarrassing. 
 

At the very least, I can concede that he hasn’t alienated talent away from WB, although he reportedly had a pretty difficult time finding someone to be the head of DC before settling on James Gunn and Peter Safran, because no one else apparently wanted the job. 

Edited January 11 by WittyUsername

[dallas]

17 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

At the very least, I can concede that he hasn’t alienated talent away from WB, although he reportedly had a pretty difficult time finding someone to be the head of DC before settling on James Gunn and Peter Safran, because no one else apparently wanted the job. 

I mean, it's not exactly easy to find creatives willing to spearhead a decade-spanning franchise, especially a franchise which is constantly associated with poor quality and diminishing box office returns. 

[AniNate]

It definitely is a bummer they got the Cruise endorsement after all they did. I suppose he does have enough clout in his own right where he can prevent something like that happening to one of his films.

[MysteryMovieMogul]

5 hours ago, Scubasteve716 said:

Can’t be a fan of studios because corporations aren’t your friends might be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Guess I can’t be a Packer fan anymore cuz corporations are bad. Like the local pizza chain down the road? Too bad corporations aren’t your friend. Collect Jordan’s? That’s dumb cuz corporations aren’t your friend. Like your VW, need a new car and thinking about buying the same kind? Preposterous. Like a bunch of shows on a certain channel well you can’t be a fan of that channel since it’s owned by a corporation. Like a certain radio channel? Guess again. XBOX, PlayStation, Nintendo? I guess none since they’re all pesky corporations. 

Being a fan of a studio and defending a corporation are two different things. Regimes change. The Warner Brothers of 1950 isn't the Warner Brothers of 1980 isn't the Warner Brothers of today! Just because Warner Brothers produced a ton of great Christopher Nolan films in the 2010s doesn't mean I'm going to cheer on Zaslav trying to save the company in 2023. Because Zaslav had nothing to do with Warner Brothers until 2021.

[lorddemaxus]

John Mulaney accidentally confirmed that the Maggie Gyllenhaal Bride of Frankenstein movie got moved to WB

[MightyDargon]

Anyone who's a fan of a company that literally won't release a movie featuring characters associated with said company over double my lifetime (the Looney Tunes) is a fucking idiot. That would be like Disney saying Donald and Goofy were "over" and dumping their appearances in the Disney Vault forever.

[ChipDerby]

15 hours ago, WittyUsername said:

I don’t consider being a fan of what a corporation puts out to be the same as being a fan of the corporation itself. All I’m saying is that I’ve seen a lot of people go out of their way to root for WBD and defend David Zaslav from any kind of criticism, which I find embarrassing. 

 

Who? Where?

[ChipDerby]

44 minutes ago, MightyDargon said:

Anyone who's a fan of a company that literally won't release a movie featuring characters associated with said company over double my lifetime (the Looney Tunes) is a fucking idiot. That would be like Disney saying Donald and Goofy were "over" and dumping their appearances in the Disney Vault forever.

 

Take a breath

[MightyDargon]

3 minutes ago, ChipDerby said:

 

Take a breath

He's the one that decided to hold Coyote vs Acme hostage in hopes of a gubmint tax writeoff, not me. 

Of course, this could REALLY be about him intentionally trying to devalue the Looney Tunes since the back part of the WB catalog will start to go public domain and be free of his grimy mitts

Edited January 11 by MightyDargon

[Juliet]

Devaluing Looney Tunes out of Public Domain fears does nothing for WB. It just means they can't make money out of the properties just like everyone else can't