In the wake of the “Batgirl” news earlier this week, a lot of attention was paid to the quarterly earnings call of Warner Bros. Discovery a few hours ago.
Thus it came as no surprise that the future of the DC franchise was a key topic that came up. CEO David Zaslav says a ‘reset’ will happen over the next ten years with a plan being mapped out that aims to be akin to what happened at Marvel Studios once Disney took over.
Zaslav says:
“You look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, these are brands that are known everywhere in the world. And the ability to drive those all over the world with great stories is a big opportunity for us. We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business. We’re going to focus where there will be a team with a ten-year plan focusing just on DC.
It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together very effectively with Kevin Feige at Disney. We think that we could build a long-term, much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC, and as part of that, we’re going to focus on quality.”
This would fit in with recent reports that Horn has joined the studio in an advisor role which means he could easily be involved with DC projects.
The CEO also reaffirmed that “The Flash” is still very much on the way along with the “Shazam!” sequel and “Black Adam” film but also suggests they “can make them even better” which hints at potential reshoots and delays:
“We have seen ‘The Flash,’ ‘Black Adam,’ and ‘Shazam 2,’…We are very excited about them. We’ve seen them. We think they are terrific, and we think we can make them even better,”
The studio then seemingly was to throw some not-so-kind shade at the shelved “Batgirl” film:
“We’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it. That’s it. The objective is to grow the DC brand, to grow the DC characters, but also our job is to protect the DC brand, and that’s what we’re going to do.
This idea of expensive films going to streaming, we cannot find an economic case for it, so we are making a strategic shift. We’re not going to launch a movie until it’s ready. We’re not going to launch a movie to make a quarter, and we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it.”
No mention was made on the call in regards to the already shot “Blue Beetle” film or the “Aquaman” sequel. The talk comes as DC made headlines again earlier today when Rolling Stone revealed that production company Iwerks was refused access to license clips from “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” as the studio reportedly advised them there is only one official “Justice League” film – the 2017 theatrical release.
Sources: The Playlist, THR
