AT&T Names Samuel Di Piazza Chairman of Warner Bros. Discovery

EXCLUSIVE: Tamir Muhammad is extending and expanding his relationship with WarnerMedia. Muhammad, executive producer of HBO’s Peabody Award-winning late-night series Random Acts of Flyness, has entered exclusive first-look deals with Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO and HBO Max. The parallel pacts follow his previous multi-year overall television production and first-look feature deals, which Muhammad signed in 2018 when he launched his Populace production company. He is now extending the first-look feature deal with Warner Bros. Pictures while also adding a separate exclusive first-look TV deal with HBO and HBO Max.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Navalny,” a fly-on-the-wall documentary about Russian dissident and one-time presidential candidate Alexei Navalny, was intended to debut directly on HBO Max. But since the harrowing story has renewed timeliness amid Russia’s recent unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. Pictures is teaming with Fathom Events for a special theatrical event of the Daniel Roher-directed documentary, Navalny, which had its surprise screening at the Sundance Film Festival and won the Audience Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition section as well as the Festival Favorite Award.

ISS, an influential shareholder advisory firm, has recommended “withhold” votes for the three Discovery directors up for reelection at the April annual meeting “due to poor stewardship” in compensation.

Production designer Patrice Vermette and set decorator Zsuzsanna Sipos took home statuettes for their work on Dune at the Academy Awards on Sunday. Both Vermette and Sipos are first-time winners, though the former had previously been nominated for his work on the films The Young Victoria and Arrival.

AT&T has firmed up more details of its spinoff of WarnerMedia, which is poised to combine with Discovery in a $43 billion merger.

tweeted a picture on Thursday from the scene, which links to the rataalada portal set up by the Riddler in the film.Once inside, there are three riddles you must solve before watching the five minute scene.“Almost our anniversary, isn’t it?” The Joker says to Batman in the scene.Warner Bros./DC’s “The Batman” has reached the $300 million mark at the domestic box office as it has added $36.8 million in its third weekend, keeping it atop the box office charts.More to come…

There likely won’t be a red carpet rolled out in front of the Fairfax County courthouse, but some big names are coming to Johnny Depp’s now $100 million defamation battle with ex-wife Amber Heard when the long delayed trial starts next month.

Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who has long espoused the benefits of streaming’s boom times, said he’s “not nervous” about Warner Bros Discovery possibly pumping the brakes as it looks to take on Netflix and Disney.

Discovery and AT&T have determined the 13 members of the board of directors for Warner Bros Discovery, the new company that will be created via a pending $43 billion merger.

Former PricewaterhouseCoopers CEO Samuel Di Piazza Jr. has been named chairman of the board of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Manori Ravindran International EditorWarner Bros. Discovery’s plans to merge streaming services HBO Max and Discovery Plus in the U.S.

Warner Bros Discovery, the company created by merging Discovery Inc. and WarnerMedia, and signed a new employment agreement through the end of 2027.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s total pay package came to more than $246 million for 2021 as the company prepares to close its merger with WarnerMedia.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeWarner Bros. Television Group and HBO have sealed a new first-look deal with producer Stephanie Allain (“Dear White People”) and her Homegrown Pictures banner.

Emmy-nominated producer Stephanie Allain has signed a new first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television Group and HBO. The new agreement continues Allain’s relationship with the Studio, where she and her Homegrown Pictures production company has been under a first-look pact since February 2020. Allain and her Homegrown Pictures team, including Director of Development Gabrielle Ebron, will develop original scripted programming to be produced by Warner Bros. Television for HBO and HBO Max, external streaming services, cable, and broadcast.

Eventually, HBO Max and Discovery+ will come together as a single streaming offering, but the integration will “take a while,” CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said at an investor conference today.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery — which is about to become Warner Bros. Discovery within the next month, when its merger with AT&T’s WarnerMedia closes — has confirmed its plans to combine its current streaming service Discovery Plus and WarnerMedia’s HBO Max into one service, rather than offer the two platforms as a bundle.Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, who will also serve as CFO of the newly combined Warner Bros.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterDiscovery investors voted in approval of the company’s $43 billion acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T to create Warner Bros. Discovery during a special meeting of stockholders Friday, marking one of the final formal steps before the transaction can close.The deal, a spinoff of WarnerMedia from AT&T, is expected to be completed early in Q2, with insiders telling Variety the estimated date is between April 11-28. The merger has already received approval from the U.S.

Discovery shareholders are set to OK the $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia on Friday, the last big step before AT&T completes the spinoff. Ahead of the deal’s expected close next month, a who’s-in/who’s-out parlor game is gaining intensity as CEO David Zaslav finalizes the leadership team.