A cover story this week for THR has gone into Warner Bros. Discovery and its CEO David Zaslav’s handling of its DC Films division and the talk of who will be taking over there.
However it also brings up a larger conversation about the future direction of the studio. Specifically, it says that it has become “accepted wisdom” at the highest levels of the industry that another major studio merger could be on the way – namely that Comcast’s Brian Roberts will make a move and combine NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery.
The trade indicates that for reasons related to the complicated structure of that merger, no negotiations can actually happen until April 2024. Any such deal would hit obvious antitrust issues but would give Comcast not only scale but a large and viable streaming service, with one executive saying:
“Obviously Peacock sucks. There are some good synergies. I’m sure [Roberts] is licking his chops because the [WBD] stock is so low. And I think that’s Zaslav’s endgame. Get the place sold.”
Whatever the case, Zaslav is reportedly continuing his quest to find someone to run the DC Films division. If he doesn’t, current Warners chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy could end up potentially “running the thing by default”.
