Superman and Harry Potter might be back in action soon- You don't want to miss the reason

Welcome to #5 of Leeds1888 and hello to my new readers!

In my previous edition, we saw how #warnerbrosdiscovery CEO Zaslav is making structural changes in the WBD content strategy one after another.

Last week, we saw why Zaslav isn’t happy with Netflix. 

Moving further, today we will see yet another interesting step in the #warner empire.

Superman and Harry Potter might be back in action soon as the news has it.

Let’s get into it.

Here is what you would be reading today-

• Weekly box office chart

• What happened in the media & entertainment space last week, and

• Why Warner Bros CEO wants to bring us more franchises like Harry Potter, Batman, Superman and more 

Before moving ahead, a small request-

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What occurred in media and entertainment this week?

1. ‘Black Panther’ 2 Rotten Tomatoes Score Dropping With Negative Reviews- Following the early reviews giving Black Panther: Wakanda Forever a sky-high 94% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the score has now dropped. With 183 reviews, the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Rotten Tomatoes Score is now at 85%.

2. Disney+ keeps growing fast. But streaming loses $1.5 billion- Armed with shows and movies from the “Star Wars” and Marvel franchises, Disney+ added 12.1 million subscribers during the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, bringing its total to 164.2 million. However, Disney’s direct-to-consumer division, which also includes Hulu and ESPN+ faced an operating loss of nearly $1.5 billion, more than doubling its loss of $630 million during the same quarter a year earlier.

3. Women hold just 10% of senior leadership roles in Indian media & entertainment industry: Ormax Media report- Women held a paltry 10% share in the senior leadership roles in the media and entertainment corporate houses, as well as across the head of department (HOD) roles in Indian films in 2021, finds the second edition of ‘O Womaniya!’ a study on the representation of women in Indian films and M&E industry.

4. Disney+ Hotstar's FY22 net loss narrows to Rs 343.16 crore- Novi Digital Entertainment, the company that houses streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar, has narrowed its net loss for FY22 by 43% to Rs 343.16 crore from Rs 600.77 crore compared to the previous fiscal.

5. Rohit Shetty promises Singham Again will be ’10 times bigger than Sooryavanshi’: Hitmaker Rohit Shetty and actor Ranveer Singh have lately been on a promotional spree, spreading the ‘Cirkus cheer.’ In a recent interview, the director also opened up about his upcoming feature Singham Again, where he will once again be seen teaming up with close friend and frequent collaborator Ajay Devgn.

Worldwide Collection of Best Movies

And in the story of the week, we will now discuss the trending news of this year in media & entertainment-

Why Warner Bros CEO wants to bring us more franchises like Harry Potter, Batman, Superman and more 

Hurray!!!

Superman and Harry Potter might be back in action

Yes, the news has it that Warner Bros CEO wants to explore further the film franchise Batman, Superman, Harry Potter, and more.

 “We’re going to have a real focus on franchises,” President and CEO David Zaslav said in a Q3 earnings call earlier last month.

In a conference call with investors and analysts, Zaslav made it clear that starting now WBD would be producing more high-yielding franchise movies featuring characters Superman and Harry Potter. 

“We haven’t had a Superman movie in 13 years,” Zaslav emphasised. “We haven’t had a Harry Potter movie in 15 years.”

“The DC movies and the Harry Potter movies provided a lot of profits to Warner Bros motion pictures over the last 25 years,” he continued.

“You focus on the big movies, that people are going to leave home, leave early from dinner to see,” said Zaslav, emphasising how big pictures make two or three times more in the U.S.

Zaslav comes with a non-apologetic money-making mindset.

The Warner Bro Discovery CEO is suggesting that he wants more projects that are going to be iconic. 

The projects that are going to work not only in the US but all over the world, no matter if they are expensive to produce. 

He explains this by saying that outside the U.S, in Europe, Latin America, Asia, they have about 40% of the theatres that the U.S. has and which mostly focuses on local content. 

And so when you have a franchise movie, you can often make two to three times the amount of money that you make in the U.S., because you get a slot and people swarm the theatres to see it. 

What he essentially means is –

We, the #warner empire, have got these incredible brands that are known, understood, and loved all over the world. Sure, we can create new brands and franchises and try experimental things if we want to. 

But, 

Let's do that once we run out of what we already have. So we can do another Harry Potter movie if we can do a DC Universe of movies.

And why can't they? 

There is no reason they shouldn't be able to do that.  Zaslav reminded investors that WBD still has the rights to make movies.

For example, #blackadam is going to be shown

• in the movie theatres internationally,

• but, it's always going to be on pay TV,

• it’s going to be on free TV, and 

• on the streaming service,

• or on new free advertising supported services they are starting in 2023

• it's going to be on cable channels throughout 230 countries all of this over time. 

So, the idea is that 

You produce a franchise because that franchise is going to cover the cost of production and be sold multiple times over.

And as long as it's a solid production, it has got good audience interest.

These projects are not for the critics, audience interest is what's going to make a franchise work.

Zaslav has the following philosophy- 

Let’s just keep selling it forever and make a huge profit

It's not about theatricals nor about the critics.

It's the audience score that matters.

That's why they had to cancel $90 million Batgirl after it had already been filmed as a cost-cutting measure. Zaslav is portraying that It's not okay anymore to go ahead with such projects is the messaging projected by Warner Bros.

Zaslav is capitalising on the company's historical success

“The movies that we launch in the theatre do significantly better, and launching a 2-hour, 40-minute movie direct to streaming has done nothing for HBO Max in terms of viewership, retention or love of the service.”  slamming directly to streaming movies Zaslav said.

Zaslav’s belief on the iconic franchises is not based out of his love for the characters of the series but because of how well they did in terms of numbers-

So why the big move?

The merger between AT&T’s WarnerMedia division and Discovery Inc. in April that created Warner Bros. Discovery left the company $50 billion in debt. Its most successful series at the moment is House of the Dragon—its spinoff of Game of Thrones—which suggests its willingness to continue building out franchises.

Warner is already producing franchise films like Magic Mike’s Last Dance, Creed III, Margot Robbie’s Barbie and the Aquaman sequel.

Also, it must be kept in mind that every studio was struggling after COVID as was WBD. The decision to bet on franchise could be a saviour at such times given the amount of debt to be repaid.

Zaslav says that the goal of the company is to reduce spending while working on big franchises that are sure to be hits. 

Studios have always been attracted to franchises

Going as far back as James Bond beginning in 1962, studios have always been attracted to franchises . Warner has an obvious stable of intellectual property, with its DC superheroes, but they have been criticised for lacklustre character development and poor world-building. 

Its rival, Marvel, however, has taken the concept of the cinematic universe to another level with its 29 interconnected films. The DC Extended Universe (DCEU), Warner’s superhero franchise, has struggled to replicate Marvel’s success, despite having some of the most recognizable heroes like Batman and Superman. It has had a series of flops in recent years, including The Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman 1984.

Zaslav is more inclined towards franchise than the streaming platform

Zaslav is also unapologetically removing shows and movies from HBO Max, telling investors that shows like "Bonanza" aren't doing anything to gain new subscribers to HBO Max.

"The entire library or almost the entire library shouldn't be on HBO Max and paid for by HBO Max," Zaslav says citing vast libraries of unwatched shows that remain on the service while not generating interest for the service. 

So all his attention is on franchises and on theatrical-only releases. 

Zaslav is avoiding putting movies directly to streaming services like Dune and Matrix Resurrection.  

Movies released in theatres have done significantly better than movies released direct to streaming which have not translated to more subscribers. 

Zaslav says, “We’ve seen, luckily, by having access to all the data, how direct-to-streaming movies perform and our conclusion is that expensive direct-to-streaming movies ... is no comparison to what happens when you launch a film in the motion picture, in the theatres.”

A new leadership change that might help Zaslav

Zack Snyder, who directed Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, stopped working with Warner in 2017, which left the DCEU in limbo. Warner hired James Gunn, director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and The Suicide Squad, and Peter Safran, Aquaman producer, to lead its DC Comics film and TV unit, which took effect Nov. 1. Warner’s vision for Superman will surely shift under new leadership—a change which can only help the franchise.

Well, we don't know if betting only on the franchise is the solution but we know this is what the audience wants and it helps restaurants when you go grab a sandwich.

That's all for today!

And if you've got a moment, I’d love to hear what you thought of this edition of the newsletter. 

-Vipul