EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Warner Bros. is making a slew of release date changes next year. First of all, James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom needs more time in post, so it’s moving from March 17, 2023 to Dec. 25, 2023.
05.08.2022 - 01:03 / deadline.com
Warner Bros. Discovery is doubling down on HBO and HBO Max.
President and CEO David Zaslav revealed that it will “spend dramatically more” on HBO and HBO Max programming this year and next year compared to what it spent in 2021. Execs, however, declined to give out any numbers.
He added that the majority of Casey Bloys’ top team has been “locked up”, although he declined to name any execs.
“Quality is what matters. Quality is what Casey and that team is delivering. It’s the best team in the business. We’re doubling down on that HBO team. They’re all committed under contract and we’re going to spend dramatically more this year and next year than we spent last year in the year before,” he said.
He called Chief Content Officer Bloys a “unicorn”.
“The majority of the people on Casey’s team have been locked up, Casey is here for the next five years and we hope longer, He’s truly a unicorn, his ability to relate to talent, to make content better, his leadership, and you see it in in what’s been coming out of HBO, and how it’s affecting the culture and what people were talking about.”
He pushed back against rumors that HBO Max would commission fewer series.
“There was some buzz today about HBO Max [that] we’re going to start doing less series and our strategy is to embrace and support and then drive the incredible success that HBO Max is having. It’s really to the culture and the taste of Casey and the team and the fact that they not only read the scripts, but they fight with all the creatives to make the content and storytelling as strong as possible. It’s at a very unique moment. We think it’s an extraordinary asset, an extraordinary advantage,” he added.
Zaslav also revealed that all of the creatives at the company now meet once a
EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Warner Bros. is making a slew of release date changes next year. First of all, James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom needs more time in post, so it’s moving from March 17, 2023 to Dec. 25, 2023.
EXCLUSIVE: About 70 people, or 14% of the programming operation overseen by HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys, were laid off last week as part of cost-cutting across Warner Bros. Discovery. At the time, only the departures of the heads of departments that were worst hit — all of them on the HBO Max side — were made public, including Jennifer O’Connell EVP, Non-Fiction & Live-Action Family Originals. Now names of other executives who are leaving as part of the restructuring and staff reductions are starting to trickle out.
200 “Sesame Street” episodes and feature film “Batgirl,” which was slated to be released this year. On Monday, the service also axed six animated projects that were earmarked for HBO Max, including “Batman: The Caped Crusader,” from “The Batman” director Matt Reeves, J.J.
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is going all in on The Batman director Matt Reeves and his 6th & Idaho production company. He has become the first filmmaker given an overall first look film deal since Warner Bros Pictures Group Co-Chairs/CEOs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy were hired by Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav to steer the film division. In addition, Reeves has re-upped with the Warner Bros. Television Group and Chairman Channing Dungey, where he is also working on The Batman spinoff series The Penguin with Colin Farrell.
Selome Hailu Warner Bros. Discovery has laid off Nicole Nichols, Karen Grant-Selma, Jennifer Giddens and MaryBeth Cunin from their executive positions at the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), Variety has learned exclusively.Nichols is OWN’s executive vice president of communications.
David Zaslav, president and chief executive officer of the newly-merged Warner Bros. Discovery, has high hopes for “House of the Dragon,” and touted the series in an email to staffers Friday.In his message to the team, obtained by TheWrap, Zaslav praised HBO boss Casey Bloys, and the premium cable network’s team that are behind “HOTD,” which premieres this Sunday night on HBO.“[They] have shepherded what looks to be the next big cultural moment,” Zaslav wrote.
Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeHBO/HBO Max chief content officer Casey Bloys sent a memo to employees this afternoon, explaining the decision by Warner Bros. Discovery to layoff 70 employees, or 14% of his workforce, as the company restructures.
At the end of a day that saw about 70 (14%) staffers in his divisions getting laid off, Casey Bloys, Chief Content Officer for HBO & HBO Max, just sent an email to his team about the cuts as well as his new (old) senior HBO/Max scripted executive team of Amy Gravitt, Francesca Orsi and Sarah Aubrey which includes new responsibilities for Gravitt and Aubrey.
Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeAfter weeks of speculation, Warner Bros. Discovery is ready to reveal some of the changes that will take place at HBO Max, in advance of next year’s anticipated combination of the HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming services. And as expected, HBO Max will downsize its reality programming department.
The dreaded post-merger Warner Bros. Discovery layoffs have reached the programming operation overseen by HBO and HBO Max Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys.
Kevin Smith has weighed in on Warner Bros. Discovery scrapping the movie starring Leslie Grace. The move made by the conglomerate has caused shockwaves in the industry and Smith, who is a comic book aficionado and writer, shared his thoughts on his YouTube series Hollywood Babble-On.
If there was one thing that the turbulent week at Warner Bros. Discovery displayed, it’s just how quickly conventional wisdom can change from one regime to the next, when each is trying to gin up the stock price for Wall Street.
After a few days of mass uncertainty, with folks on social media wondering what is going on at one of the biggest studios in Hollywood, Warner Bros. Discovery has shed some light on the company’s future.
Cynthia Littleton Business EditorWarner Bros. Discovery shares were battered Friday on the heels of its after-market second-quarter earnings report on Thursday that revealed the depth of the financial and operational pressures that the newly enlarged conglomerate is facing.WB Discovery shares were down more than 17% at midday to the $14.50 range.
Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorWarner Bros. Discovery is looking to pull a FAST one — telling investors the company is mulling the launch of a free, ad-supported TV (FAST) service stocked with content from its portfolio of brands to complement its premium subscription biz.The first strategic priority on the streaming side of the house is to merge HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single platform.
HBO Max and Discovery+ will merge to become one streaming service next year.In a second quarter earnings call on Thursday (August 4), Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO David Zaslav announced that the merged streamer will launch in the summer of 2023 in the US, with Latin America, Europe and other territories to follow soon after. The combined streaming service will be released with ad-free, ad-light and ad-only options.As reported by Entertainment Weekly, Zaslav addressed concerns that the merger would result in less emphasis on original programmes.
Warner Bros. Discovery expects to launch its combined HBO Max/Discovery+ streaming service in the U.S. next summer.
In a complete about-face from the business strategy employed by former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav made it firm today that the new merged entertainment conglomerate “will fully embrace theatrical.” Period.
The Flash” movie starring Ezra Miller is still a go, despite the actor’s numerous scandals this year.“We have seen ‘The Flash,’ ‘Black Adam’ and ‘Shazam 2,'” said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav during the company’s Q2 earnings call on Thursday. “We are very excited about them.