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

[Merkel]

This Batgirl movie really needs to leak someday. I'd rather watch a bona fide disaster that another by number, pedestrian, unmemorable superhero movie

[WittyUsername]

2 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

An interesting thought experiment.  If you're the new CEO, and you don't think you can win the eventual streaming wars, do you give up and cut your losses and throw your best stuff to someone you perceive will win in a win/win for you both?  Now that everyone knows what the value of the material can be?

 

Everyone said there will only be 3-4 streaming services that can dominate - maybe fewer.  Is WB maybe deciding they don't have the money to win the war and stay in business...so they are giving up and making allies instead?

Isn’t HBO Max a fairly popular service? I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than Paramount+ and Peacock, at least. 

[filmlover]

They're actually looking into shutting down HBO Max within the next few years? What? Why? How? Nolan must be looking at all of this and saying "I made the right choice" re: moving to another studio.

[TwoMisfits]

11 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

Isn’t HBO Max a fairly popular service? I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than Paramount+ and Peacock, at least. 

 

But there's Netflix (the original), Amazon (with unlimited pockets), and Disney/Hulu (with the theme parks as their cash cow)...it's hard to know you can only be 3/4, and that's if you stay in front of Peacock, Paramount, Apple, and every other next competitor.

 

Maybe it's worth a deal with Netflix (who is desperate again for content) or Amazon (who would probably pay anything asked)...

 

Just theorizing - maybe they want Discovery+ to stay as the cheap 40+ aged drawing reality service and maybe they want scripted content to be a cash cow stream for them from anyone who will pay, as long as WB keeps the rights...

Edited August 3, 2022 by TwoMisfits

[infamous5445]

3 hours ago, Eric the Tank Engine said:

They probably were. Good test screenings can still lead to a bad movie.

Thor Love and Thunder is like a recent example too lol

[John Marston]

36 minutes ago, filmlover said:

They're actually looking into shutting down HBO Max within the next few years? What? Why? How? Nolan must be looking at all of this and saying "I made the right choice" re: moving to another studio.

 

 

Nolan hates streaming right so he would probably be pleased and may even be willing to come back to WB

[Johnny Tran]

The new CEO on drugs if he believes Discovery is a bigger seller than HBO.  House of the Dragon numbers are going to dwarf whatever the fuck he's got on Home and Garden.  

[Rebeccas]

1 hour ago, cax16 said:

 

Probably Blue Beetle, would be a really dumb move imo but after today who even knows anymore. 

Shambolic 

[WittyUsername]

 

David Zaslav in a past life. 

[BestPicturePlutoNash]

There were initial cries that the scrapping of Batgirl carried bad optics because the title role is played by a Latina actress. But there were reasons for the move. In both cases, the filmmakers were told that it came down to a “purchase accounting” maneuver available to Warner Discovery because the company has changed hands, and strategy from the previous regime. This opportunity expires in mid-August, said sources, and it allows Warner Bros Discovery  to not have to carry the losses on its books at a time when the studio is trying to pare down $3 billion in debt across its divisions.

 

There has been much speculation on why Batgirl was canceled, having to do with it being a bad movie. Sources said that the film tested once, and the result wasn’t that bad, considering that the cut had temporary visual effects which tend to temper audience enthusiasm in the scores. Already, the studio is discussing making different deals with the directors and Miss Bala star Grace, because this was not a reflection on their talent as much as the radical strategy shift. It was a hard decision for all and highly unusual to simply scrap a film that cost between $60 million and $70 million, made by the hot directors who helmed Black and the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel under Kevin Feige.

 

Much of the decision came down to the following: Warner Discovery boss David Zaslav rejecting Kilar’s strategy to lean heavily into building streaming subscriptions for HBO Max, spearheaded by his Project Popcorn initiative that put the entire 2021 theatrical slate — including Dune, Godzilla Vs Kong, King Richard, Matrix 4 — day and date in theaters and on HBO Max when theater attendance was sparse during the pandemic. Even after he was shown the door, Kilar continued to call the strategy a win. Many did not agree, particularly after Top Gun: Maverick waited and grossed north of 41.3 billion. It’s a decidedly different world from when Kilar made the move. Wall Street is no longer impressed by subscriber numbers as much as profits, as seen by the precipitous decline of Netflix’s stock value.

 

 

Companies have come around to philosophies espoused by the likes of Sony’s Tom Rothman and Universal’s Donna Langley, that films gain cultural relevance when they first debut in theaters with an appreciable theatrical spend. When they appear on streaming sites 45 days or so later, they will not be forgettable entries, but something more. That will be the strategy Apple employs next year with the Martin Scorsese-directed Leonardo DiCaprio-Robert De Niro drama Killers of the Flower Moon, which pulled out of 2022 and, as Deadline revealed, is likely to debut at 2023 Cannes before a full theatrical release through Paramount.

 

Back to Batgirl and Scoob! Batgirl is a gritty entry and wasn’t designed to compete with tent pole theatrical releases, and neither for that matter was Scoob! In addition, there were introductions of characters in that film that the studio wanted to save for its DC theatrical titles. Rather than spend vast sums pumping up the budgets of each film to compete, and then spending $80 million in global P&A, the studio felt that scrapping both of the movies was a better choice, when coupled with the purchase accounting maneuver.

 

Sources don’t expect other films to follow suit, because the accounting opportunity expires by the middle of this month. But as all Warner Bros Discovery braces for the earnings report and the layoffs that are sure to come, no one with a project made specifically for HBO Max  can feel confident at this moment.

[WorkingonaName]

Quote

Many did not agree, particularly after Top Gun: Maverick waited and grossed north of 41.3 billion.

 

Holy shit.

[Ronin46]

1 hour ago, cax16 said:

 

Probably Blue Beetle, would be a really dumb move imo but after today who even knows anymore. 

 

Is this guy reliable?

[John Marston]

1 hour ago, BestPicturePlutoNash said:

There were initial cries that the scrapping of Batgirl carried bad optics because the title role is played by a Latina actress. But there were reasons for the move. In both cases, the filmmakers were told that it came down to a “purchase accounting” maneuver available to Warner Discovery because the company has changed hands, and strategy from the previous regime. This opportunity expires in mid-August, said sources, and it allows Warner Bros Discovery  to not have to carry the losses on its books at a time when the studio is trying to pare down $3 billion in debt across its divisions.

 

There has been much speculation on why Batgirl was canceled, having to do with it being a bad movie. Sources said that the film tested once, and the result wasn’t that bad, considering that the cut had temporary visual effects which tend to temper audience enthusiasm in the scores. Already, the studio is discussing making different deals with the directors and Miss Bala star Grace, because this was not a reflection on their talent as much as the radical strategy shift. It was a hard decision for all and highly unusual to simply scrap a film that cost between $60 million and $70 million, made by the hot directors who helmed Black and the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel under Kevin Feige.

 

Much of the decision came down to the following: Warner Discovery boss David Zaslav rejecting Kilar’s strategy to lean heavily into building streaming subscriptions for HBO Max, spearheaded by his Project Popcorn initiative that put the entire 2021 theatrical slate — including Dune, Godzilla Vs Kong, King Richard, Matrix 4 — day and date in theaters and on HBO Max when theater attendance was sparse during the pandemic. Even after he was shown the door, Kilar continued to call the strategy a win. Many did not agree, particularly after Top Gun: Maverick waited and grossed north of 41.3 billion. It’s a decidedly different world from when Kilar made the move. Wall Street is no longer impressed by subscriber numbers as much as profits, as seen by the precipitous decline of Netflix’s stock value.

 

 

Companies have come around to philosophies espoused by the likes of Sony’s Tom Rothman and Universal’s Donna Langley, that films gain cultural relevance when they first debut in theaters with an appreciable theatrical spend. When they appear on streaming sites 45 days or so later, they will not be forgettable entries, but something more. That will be the strategy Apple employs next year with the Martin Scorsese-directed Leonardo DiCaprio-Robert De Niro drama Killers of the Flower Moon, which pulled out of 2022 and, as Deadline revealed, is likely to debut at 2023 Cannes before a full theatrical release through Paramount.

 

Back to Batgirl and Scoob! Batgirl is a gritty entry and wasn’t designed to compete with tent pole theatrical releases, and neither for that matter was Scoob! In addition, there were introductions of characters in that film that the studio wanted to save for its DC theatrical titles. Rather than spend vast sums pumping up the budgets of each film to compete, and then spending $80 million in global P&A, the studio felt that scrapping both of the movies was a better choice, when coupled with the purchase accounting maneuver.

 

Sources don’t expect other films to follow suit, because the accounting opportunity expires by the middle of this month. But as all Warner Bros Discovery braces for the earnings report and the layoffs that are sure to come, no one with a project made specifically for HBO Max  can feel confident at this moment.

 

 

If they were confident in Batgirl and it worked in taking the DC universe to where they wanted they would have released it. Plain and simple 

[NamakFiskKa]

4 hours ago, Jonwo said:

Zaslav had been at Discovery for sixteen years,

 

 

This makes sense because that channel was only relevant a decade ago till the late 00s

[NamakFiskKa]

who tf even watches Discovery

[BadOlCatSylvester]

Did Papa Nolan see what was coming and left Warner before it burned to the ground? If so, hopefully Legendary and Villenueve take the Dune license to Universal too.

[bleachella]

I was really looking forward to Batgirl specifically because of it being a smaller scale project and also wanting to see Brendan Fraser again. So many disappointing and confusing decisions here. Who talent is going to want to work with WB if they know their hard work could be arbitrarily canned? Seems really shortsighted and they can't really pretend to be "filmmaker friendly studio" anymore. Zaslav definitely comes across as one of those execs who have no real interest or understanding of movies

Edited August 3, 2022 by bleachella

[wildphantom]

My initial reaction is the new regime seeing that projects like these aren’t gaining or losing subs, but giving away IP they should be making money from. No more, no less. 
 

Don’t cheapen your brands and instead use them to make films of real quality that carries a premium for the consumer. 
 

HBO Max will live or die based on its television shows ultimately. I’m sure it will be just fine. No point spending boatloads on films to debut on there for no financial reason whatsoever. 

[Jonwo]

9 minutes ago, wildphantom said:

My initial reaction is the new regime seeing that projects like these aren’t gaining or losing subs, but giving away IP they should be making money from. No more, no less. 
 

Don’t cheapen your brands and instead use them to make films of real quality that carries a premium for the consumer. 
 

HBO Max will live or die based on its television shows ultimately. I’m sure it will be just fine. No point spending boatloads on films to debut on there for no financial reason whatsoever. 

I agree, I think people on here are freaking out for no reason whatsoever and making frankly eye rolling remarks about someone who's frankly got more experience about the business than anyone on here. 

[Krissykins]

4 hours ago, Ronin46 said:

 

Is this guy reliable?

He does fan art as far as I remember. Maybe just speculation.