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Just two days after Warner Bros. Discovery took the amazing step of canceling the HBO Max film bat girlan uncompromising CEO David Zaslav tried to reassure Wall Street that there is a coherent plan for DC’s future.
“You’re looking at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman — these are brands that are well known around the world,” Zaslav said during a conference call Thursday. “We did a reset. We’ve restructured the business, where we’re going to be focused, where there’s going to be a team with a 10-year plan that’s just focused on DC. We believe we can build a much more sustainable business.”
DC has long wanted to emulate the success of Disney-owned Marvel Studios, which Kevin Feige turned into the highest-grossing film franchise in history. Zaslav recently brought Feige’s former boss, retired Disney film executive Alan Horn, on board as an advisor. During the earnings call, Zaslav suggested that DC would try to emulate the Marvel playbook.
“It is very similar to the structure of Alan Horn, [former Disney CEO] Bob Iger and Kevin Feige worked very effectively together at Disney. We believe we can build a much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC,” said Zaslav. “We will focus on quality. We will not release any film until it is finished. … DC is something we can improve on.”
DC has proceeded in stops and will begin upon completion of Christopher Nolan’s definition Dark Knight Trilogy completed a decade ago. The studio initially hired Zack Snyder to oversee its proposed universe, which the filmmaker launched in 2013 man of Steel. However, Snyder lost the trust of studio executives after the divisive 2016 Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justiceand some of the films in an ambitious 10-project list announced in 2014 never came to fruition, including Justice League 2. Executive Walter Hamada took charge of DC Films in 2018 and planned a series of films – including several for HBO Max – to fulfill the mandate of then-CEO of WarnerMedia, Jason Kilar. Now those plans are changing again.
Zaslav announced a number of DC movies including Black Adam and Shazam! wrath of the godsand addressed rumors that some of those films might be rescheduling dates, without confirming or denying details.
“We are very happy about them. We saw her. We think they’re great and we think we can make them even better,” Zaslav said in regards to the marketing and distribution of upcoming films, which include The Lightningwith controversial actor Ezra Miller.
Miller was accused of choking a fan in Iceland in April 2020 Business Insider published a report on Thursday featuring a lengthy interview with the parents of an 18-year-old, who say the actor has cared for their child since they were 12. Warner’s plans for The Lightningscheduled for release in June 2023 have been closely monitored.
The executive also revealed that while his focus is on theatrical releases, “a number of films will be released with shorter windows… and with different marketing campaigns. But we will always be agile and the focus will be on the theatre.”
Before the pandemic, theater owners could request an exclusive theater window of 74 to 90 days. Now, a film that opens domestically for $50 million or less can be made available at home as little as two to three weeks after its theatrical release (Universal was the first major Hollywood studio to meet such requirements).
Zaslav’s comments come at a difficult time for DC. On Tuesday, Warners announced the news that it was putting its $90 million on hold bat girl Film that was deep in post-production ahead of a planned HBO Max release. Multiple sources noted that Warner Media Discovery elected to use losses from the film as a tax write-off rather than release it. The move has sparked nervousness that other films may follow Blue Beetle Filmmaker Angel Manuel Soto likes tweets urging Warners to protect his DC film, which was originally developed for HBO Max before it was upgraded to cinema.
Zaslav said that streaming expensive films made no economic sense.
“The aim is to expand the DC brand. To grow the DC characters. But our job is also to protect the DC brand, and we will do that.”
