In April, WarnerMedia merged with Discovery in what is quickly becoming one of the largest corporate shake-ups in Hollywood. Along with creating a totally new media conglomerate, the deal dramatically changed the leadership that effectively controlled some of the most popular titles in the business. The corporate structure changed itself in confusing legalistic ways that would require several degrees in economics to understand completely. But that structure is the one churning out some of our favorite movies and shows, including the Harry Potter franchise, everything from Cartoon Network, and the entire DC Universe. The executives and stockholders have already seen some consequences of this merger, but as the waves reach the edges of the pond, we little fish are beginning to see the effects as well.
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The company shut down CNN+, a news streaming service that was barely a month old, and canceled plans for the DC universe’s Wonder Twins movie. Under the previous operation, the company produced many films under its franchised titles that were continued failures. But they kept making these movies with big budgets and low payoffs anyway. So the change, as it stands now, seems to be focused on trimming the fat. This is probably a good move for the company, but what about the fans?
Changes in Management
Warner Bros. Pictures
The new CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery is David Zaslav, who has a reputation for cutting costs. He is known to some by his nickname “Zas,” which is eerily close to “Zasz,” a Batman Villain famous for cutting a lot more than costs. Coincidences aside, Mr. Zaslav had displayed his administrative choices in entertainment before when Discovery hired him in 2006. Zaslav’s decisions then led to many scripted shows being cut in favor of more unscripted reality TV due to its lower production costs. The channel ended some of its less popular programmings and unleashed the dragon that was Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, which, to be fair, was a financial success for Discovery.
Though more reality TV programming worked for the company, Discovery lost its reputation as an educationally focused channel. It became another reality show mill that vaguely related to nature. And now that Zaslav has control over a much wider array of media, one wonders if he might do the same thing again. Of course, it’s important to remember that Mr. Zaslav is a businessman, not a Batman villain that makes rash decisions based on their love of cutting things. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a show that had a massive audience appeal, not just to those of us who couldn’t look away but to those who genuinely enjoyed it as well. And that decision to sacrifice reputation in favor of financial success was justified in the adage to “give the people what they want.”
Per The Wall Street Journal, Zaslav was quoted in a memo to his employees saying that they “need to be guided by data and insights to understand what’s working and what’s not.” This means that we will likely see more programming in the future that’s based on what is already popular now.
But What About the Fans?
While Warner Bros. Discovery controls a lot of titles that inspire many of us in nerd culture, they remain one of the smaller players in today’s media landscape. Their biggest streaming platform, HBO Max, lags way behind leaders like Netflix, Disney+, and Paramount+. While some of these providers are working on trying to capture more users with direct-to-streaming movies, Warner Bros. Discovery seems ready to move in the opposite direction. As mentioned in the same Wall Street Journal article, the company plans to increase its theatrical releases, moving from 17 to 20-25 movies a year. As demonstrated by The Batman, movies do a lot better in HBO Max when released in theaters first. So it’s likely we can expect to be tempted back into the theaters in these coming years.
Executives also noticed it’s hard to put butts in theater seats unless you have big crowd-pleasing movies like Fantastic Beasts or a Marvel flick. So we can probably expect a lot more from popular franchises like DC and Harry Potter. Zaslav plans to meet with J.K. Rowling with the goal of creating more Harry Potter-related content for HBO Max, so it’s a very real possibility we can see that universe expanding in the coming years. Adult Swim, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery somewhere down the line, has recently announced two new shows, including an anime version of Rick and Morty, one of its most popular titles.
All in all, it seems what the fans will be getting is more of what they already like. Properties with the Warner Bros. label on them will likely expand or be tweaked to fit audience standards. Though change can be scary for some, it also brings the potential for wonderful things to happen. Who knows, maybe the DC universe will actually improve!
