The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav addressed the company’s controversial decision this week to cancel releases of “Batgirl” and “Scoob!: Holiday Haunt,” during the company’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday.
“We’re not releasing a movie until it’s done,” Zaslav said during the Q&A portion of the call when asked directly about “Batgirl” getting the axe. “We’re not going to release a movie to make a quarter, and we’re not going to release a movie unless we believe in it.”
During the presentation, Zaslav repeatedly pointed to the company’s DC superhero properties — including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman — as central to the company’s broader content strategy. To better manage those properties, Zaslav cited his previous goal of forming a team with a “10-year plan focused solely on DC,” similar to the approach Disney has taken with Marvel Studios, run by Kevin Feige. But he didn’t announce who would lead that team in Feige’s role.
“These are brands that are known all over the world,” he said of the DC characters. “And as part of that, we’re going to focus on quality. DC is something we think we can do better, and that’s what we’re focused on now.”
Zaslav mentioned “quality” multiple times when discussing DC, strongly implying that “Batgirl” didn’t live up to a standard he felt was necessary for adaptations of the broader comic book property.
“The goal is to grow the DC brand, to grow the DC characters,” he said. “But also, our job is to protect the DC brand. And that’s what we’re going to do.”
Zaslav name-checked Black Adam, Shazam! 2” and “The Flash” as DC features he is “very excited about”.
“We’ve seen them, we think they’re great, and we think we can make them even better,” he said. (Zaslav’s mention of “The Flash,” currently slated to debut in June 2023, is particularly significant because star Ezra Miller has faced multiple allegations of abuse and misconduct that neither the actor nor the studio have addressed publicly.)
The decision to shelve two almost-completed feature films — including a $90 million budget superhero property — stunned the industry as a whole. On Wednesday, “Batgirl” directors Adil El Arbi and Bilal Falla (“Bad Boys for Life,” “Ms. Marvel”) released a statement saying they were “saddened and shocked by the news,” and star Leslie Grace said she was ” proud of the love, hard work and intent our entire incredible cast and tireless crew put into this film.”
On Tuesday, Variety reported that the main reason for the decision was the company’s shift in strategy away from making feature films exclusive to HBO Max, as was the case with “Batgirl” and “Scoob!: Holiday Haunt,” following the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery.
“This idea of expensive movies going straight to streaming — we can’t find an economic case for it, we can’t find an economic value for it, so we’re making a strategic shift,” Zaslav said during the Q&A.
He also addressed that change during his opening remarks on the second quarter earnings call.
“We will fully embrace theatrical stages as we believe it creates interest and demand, provides a great marketing tailwind and generates word-of-mouth buzz as films transition to streaming and beyond,” Zaslav said. “We have a different view on the wisdom of releasing films via direct streaming and have taken some aggressive steps to correct the previous strategy.”
During the presentation, CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels cited the strategy spearheaded by WarnerMedia’s previous management — namely Jason Kilar and Anne Sarnoff — to finance “selected direct-to-HBO Max films” as lacking “enough support” to sustain. He cited the film “Twins of Wonder” (which was in pre-production) and the nearly completed “Batgirl” and “Scoob!: Holiday Haunt” as “examples of streaming films that did not fit this new strategic approach.”
Wiedenfels said canceling those projects was a “difficult decision” but the company was “committed to the discipline of a framework that guides our comfortable investments for maximum returns.”
To cover losses from the cancellation of the films, the company is said to be cutting taxes on both films, citing a shift in strategy after the merger, but that strategy was not discussed during the earnings call.
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