There’s no escaping the fact that it has been a difficult week to be a DC Films fan this week. With the cancellation of Batgirl, many had lost one of their most anticipated films of 2023. But during last night’s first presentation to shareholders, the new boss of Warner Bros. Discovery shared his plans for the franchise.
Speaking of the decision to pull Batgirl from HBO Max (and cinemas in the UK), new CEO David Zaslav said “We’re not going to launch a movie until it’s ready”. The studio continues to push the line that the Adil el Arbi and Bilall Fallah directed film was simply not the kind of product deserving of a theatrical release due to its origins for the Max streamer.
“Our ambition to is bring Warners back and produce great, high-quality films,” the CEO said. “We can build a long-term sustainable growth business out of DC.“
His plan for building that sustainable future for DC? Bringing in Alan Horn, one of the top brass who was in on the ground floor at Disney with Kevin Feige to birth Marvel Studios and the MCU.
In his presentation to shareholders, Zaslav made it clear that in the future structure of WBD, DC will be its own studio. A fully functioning entity within WBD with it’s own executives, focussed on the future of the brand. His ultimate goal being a ten year plan for the franchise.
Zaslav emphasized the waste of money in making expensive direct-to-streaming movies. “There’s no comparison when you launch a film in motion picture theaters,” he said. “Expensive films going to streaming … can’t find an economic value for it.”
The studio doubled down on its commitment to The Flash, confirming the film is on track to release as planned. As for those rumours that Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom could be moving release dates? Nothing was mentioned during last night’s call.
“We have seen The Flash, Black Adam and Shazam 2,” the CEO said, “We are very excited about them. We’ve seen them. We think they are terrific, and we think we can make them even better.”
As it stands, The Flash will be released on June 23, while Black Adam with Dwayne Johnson will hit cinemas on October 21, and Shazam: Fury of the Gods will be released on December 21.
