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

[dudalb]

2 hours ago, TestPattern said:

What an absolutely stupid merger this was

 

Sorry, but I just cannot watch a feature length movie on my phone. I am not alone on that. 

[dudalb]

4 hours ago, excel1 said:

Refreshingly honest and blunt call w/ regard to the studio. 

Only after every reporter who covers the FIlm business reported that Aqua and Color Purple has underperfromed.

Blindly defending everything a Studio  does is pretty damn silly.

Edited February 23 by dudalb

[dudalb]

1 minute ago, dudalb said:

Double post.

 

Edited February 23 by dudalb

[ChipDerby]

Jurassic League (DC animated) supposedly in the works. With Brian Lynch writing a script.

[eddyxx]

12 hours ago, TestPattern said:

What an absolutely stupid merger this was

 

[Napoleon]

16 hours ago, TestPattern said:

What an absolutely stupid merger this was

 

Quibi did this. When you flipped your phone, the video would automatically adjust to vertical or horizontal, and the episodes would be shot the way it would work both ways. I thought that was actually an awesome feature. I guess that’s what AT&T considered doing for HBO Max. Of course, from an artistic point of view, that’s absurd, but so is the Netflix feature of increasing the running speed. 

[PlatnumRoyce]

There was a long WSJ article on Harry Potter/JKR Wizarding World & WB relationship. I don't think the "WB has the rights to do whatever they want with a remake of the books but Rowling has veto power over anything else" aspect of the rights has gotten enough prior play (and likely explains the reboot path).

 

Quote

Zaslav has a series in development that he says will debut in 2026—and that means he has gotten a Harry Potter TV project closer to the finish line than any of his predecessors did in years of trying. Behind the thawing relations, executives say, is a shift in the studio’s approach—one that seeks to avoid alienating the Rowling camp without automatically ceding power to it either.

It's probably worth parsing Rowlings/WB's statements carefully re: Rowling's' involvement. Article seems to clearly imply that Zaslov told Rowling this was happening with or without her and are mostly just aiming to avoid negative lobbying from Rowling. The article implies to me that it's intentionally downplaying the degree of creative input change here.

 

It also sort of seems clear that Rowling just doesn't view video games as "genuine canon" stories. The big roadblock flagged in the article was a generalized skepticism of (pay-to-win) mobile gaming and there was a deluge of HP games in the early 2000s. 

 

 

Edited February 24 by PlatnumRoyce

[clockwork]

2 hours ago, PlatnumRoyce said:

It also sort of seems clear that Rowling just doesn't view video games as "genuine canon" stories. The big roadblock flagged in the article was a generalized skepticism of (pay-to-win) mobile gaming and there was a deluge of HP games in the early 2000s. 

I suppose thats why she had little to no involvement in the video game that came out last year. It feels like she and WB don't have a a huge interest for animation set in the Wizarding World. I see no other reason why there hasn't been any HP/Wizarding World animated content yet other than they just think it's lesser than live action, which is a disappointing mindset to have if you ask me.

 

It's a shame because I think an animated HP tv show or movie could be a hit. They should've considered making this supposed reboot animated instead of live action, and I still don't see that reboot working out like they hope. WB hasn't exactly instilled me with confidence regarding their long-term management of their franchises lately and I can't see that show lasting 7 seasons or over 10 years. A lot of wishful thinking going on there.

Edited February 25 by clockwork

[WittyUsername]

God, that Harry Potter reboot thing still sounds extremely stupid. Who is it even supposed to be for? The films are easily accessible for young fans to watch. Who are the actors even supposed to be? 

[TerwillikerInst]

On 5/8/2023 at 4:20 AM, TerwillikerInst said:

 

100%. I've been banging this drum for ages now, and the more stuff he does, the clearer it becomes that he's just salting the mine with gold dust before he unloads it on some buyer. 

 

Like, announcing a slew of insanely expensive brand new LOTR movies, a brand new DC Universe, and new Harry Potter-stuff is kind of an odd thing to do for a company which is in debt and still technically losing money. 

 

Those IPs haven't exactly been gaining in value in the past few years so he needs to juice them up a bit just long enough for someone to buy them. Hell, some will probably not have any big money put into them before the sale happens. 

 

That's probably why he hired Gunn and is giving him a lot of leeway. He knows that by the time it actually gets going in earnest, it won't be his problem anymore. 

 

Even doing this lavish 100 Years Celebration while also actively gutting WB suddenly makes more sense when you realize that he wants to keep the brand name and library looking valuable. 

 

Now, it is possible he changes his mind? Maybe, I guess. But I don't see it.

 

He's a used car dealer. And a used car dealer doesn't buy up a creaking old wreck just so he can spend decades lovingly restoring it back to its former glory. 

 

👀

[Napoleon]

12 hours ago, WittyUsername said:

God, that Harry Potter reboot thing still sounds extremely stupid. Who is it even supposed to be for? The films are easily accessible for young fans to watch. Who are the actors even supposed to be? 

The tv series has the opportunity to better show the day to day student life in Hogwarts which were mostly left out of the movies because of the runtime. There was something very enjoyable to me about that aspect of the books, and it’s the one thing it would be worth to see a new adaptation in my opinion (though probably for younger viewers because when I tried to re-read the books as an adult I didn’t like them at all.)

[AJG]

14 hours ago, WittyUsername said:

God, that Harry Potter reboot thing still sounds extremely stupid. Who is it even supposed to be for? The films are easily accessible for young fans to watch. Who are the actors even supposed to be? 

 

I can't wait to watch 3 episodes and then completely forget the show existed.

[HummingLemon496]

On 2/23/2024 at 9:25 AM, Veclozy said:

 

Makes sense, the notion that WB was happy with Aquaman 2's box office numbers just because it flopped instead of bombed was craaaaazy, glad to have cleared this up. 

Edited February 26 by HummingLemon496

[HummingLemon496]

Does the WB earning's call confirm that Aquaman flopped and lost money? At the very least it confirms that WB is not satisfied with the performance. Before, a lot of people were claiming that Aquaman 2's box office was (I kid you not) a "a huge W" but it turns out that is not the case.   @Veclozy

Edited February 26 by HummingLemon496

[keysersoze123]

7 minutes ago, HummingLemon496 said:

Does the WB earning's call confirm that Aquaman flopped and lost money? @Veclozy

They dont use words like "flopped" in earnings transcript. Just mentioned that Wonka did above expectations while Aquabro 2/Color Purple did below expectations

[HummingLemon496]

26 minutes ago, keysersoze123 said:

They dont use words like "flopped" in earnings transcript. Just mentioned that Wonka did above expectations while Aquabro 2/Color Purple did below expectations

So it seems like we're gonna be stuck in an eternal debate over whether Aquaman 2 flopped or not 🥶. Oh well. . .

 

But at least this can properly disprove the perpetuating myth that WB is somehow happy about Aquaman 2's box office. I'm one of the people who never believed that WB was happy with the performance to begin with, so I'm very, very glad to be proven right on that. I saw a comment on Reddit that was like "this is a hUgE dUb for WB" and I was literally so confused. Someone was literally downvoted on the thread for saying that WB wasn't happy with the result. But I'm glad this transcript confirms my beliefs. 

Edited February 26 by HummingLemon496

[dallas]

I'm sure that WB is happy that Aquaman posted the best numbers for a DCEU movie in half a decade, but of course they're not going to announce to their investors that they're happy with their movie flopping. That's ridiculous lol. 

[ChipDerby]

13 hours ago, keysersoze123 said:

They dont use words like "flopped" in earnings transcript. Just mentioned that Wonka did above expectations while Aquabro 2/Color Purple did below expectations

 

Because they don't have poisoned internet brain.

[Spidey Freak]

How did they expect Aquabro 2 to have performed better when they pulled back promotion, lending credence to the rumors that it was "the worst DCEU film of all time" and making it seem like a semi-dump job?

[Scubasteve716]

6 minutes ago, Spidey Freak said:

How did they expect Aquabro 2 to have performed better when they pulled back promotion, lending credence to the rumors that it was "the worst DCEU film of all time" and making it seem like a semi-dump job?

Companies expect their movies to make money. If the don’t make money they underperform expectations. It probably did better than how they thought it would do in October but that doesn’t mean it exceeded expectations.