Too bad those dreams are becoming nightmares.
Well, we had to get a commentary into this week somehow.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Brothers Discovery head honcho David Zaslav is showing that he doesn’t understand what the problem is. Like most of Hollywood he’s taking to broad an overview of the situation. To wit and emphasis mine:
The mood inside the Colosseum could be markedly different Tuesday afternoon when Warner Bros.’ movie studio bosses Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy take the stage. The duo have come under intense scrutiny following several high-profile box office misses, with Bloomberg going as far as to report that their boss, Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav, is speaking with potential candidates to replace them. (If Greenstein is up for leaving Sony, he would be an obvious name to put on Zaslav’s call sheet.)
Sources close to the situation say Zaslav wants to focus on big IP, versus the sort of filmmaker-driven fare that Abdy and De Luca are known for, including Ryan Coogler’s upcoming Sinners and Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. He is also said to be unhappy with the amount of money the two are spending on these non-IP projects. Abdy and De Luca allies say the two executives are consummate professionals and are resigned to the fact that their fate at Warners is uncertain amid a changing climate. (It remains to be seen whether Abdy and De Luca acknowledge the elephant in the room when appearing on stage.)
Big IP, especially in the hands of current Hollywood structure full of elitists, activists, and people who don’t care about fans or source material, is a mistake. Today’s filmmakers are too egotistical to do these properties justice, and apparently that’s being missed. Also being missed is how that’s hurting the studios AND the big IP.
BW Media Spotlight 