Just as the outside world speculated about the meaning, Zaslav once again expressed his determination to protect the company's most important assets. "Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, these world-famous 'brand IP' are the key points. We have completed the readjustment

In August this year, David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), decided to cut off the original HBO Max movie "Batgirl" that has entered the production stage. Just as the outside world speculated about the meaning, Zaslav once again expressed his determination to protect the company's most important assets. "Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman, these world-famous 'brand IP' are the key points. We have completed the readjustment and strived to form a business team focusing on DC, which is the business layout in the next 10 years."

However, the so-called DC team restructuring may have been announced a bit early. Zaslav is still looking for the right person to lead the team. Unexpectedly, it is unlikely to find another leader like Kevin Feige. Producer Dan Lin (Dan Lin) is one of the candidates who have been in contact, but failed to reach an agreement. It is said that the conditions included Rideback, a production company that supports him free of charge and has not made much money.

At the same time, DC Film Chairman Walter Hamada also contacted a lawyer and DC to negotiate a resignation. Although Hamada was willing to wait until the release of "Black Adam" in October before making the final decision, his intention to leave was already obvious.

It is really difficult to find the right "leader" for DC. It is not unreasonable that no qualified candidate is willing to fill in this gap. First of all, Zaslav's leadership style has been revealed. He is obviously the kind of "boss" who is decisive and demanding. The pressure of working under him is prohibitive. Secondly, Gunnar Wiedenfels, the company's chief financial officer, has more than $50 billion in debt to find a way to solve it. Therefore, although some projects that were offline in streaming services were unknown when they were cut, they could not stop the internal discussions of the creative team. In addition, the number of layoffs increased, many people began to look for their next home.

A chief agent mentioned the most critical reason, "DC will always be compared with Marvel. Who is willing to do such a job?" Comparing this setting with Marvel will make the work difficult. When Kevin Feige took over Marvel, Marvel had a clearer universe architecture and the team was also familiar with it. In comparison, the DC universe has experienced the chaotic stage of multiple strategic adjustments. DC also has some overly enthusiastic "fans", sometimes even reaching the point of "toxicity", and there are many small circles. A certain producer believes that "DC's works are seriously fragmented and difficult to plan in a unified manner. Zack Snyder and Todd Phillips are both heroes who have made DC, but they are all fighting for their own battles."

However, all of the above are not as good as one key question, that is, how long can they last - this is also a problem that all WBD executive positions are facing.

Now, WBD needs to break down excessive debts on the one hand, and to revitalize investors' confidence on the other hand. A former executive of Zaslav recently received a letter from a company with a professional background, saying that it was entrusted by an unknown client to ask about Zaslav's management style, strategic plan and success rate. This news can represent multiple speculations: it may be that intentional acquirers conduct preliminary investigations; it may be that shareholders with disagreements are looking for weaknesses; it may be that investors with strong funds are looking for the next target. In short, the company has extremely high uncertainty.

Considering the multiple challenges the company faces, industry leaders basically reached a consensus on one speculation: WBD will usher in another merger transaction soon. However, since the company's internal structure is still intricate, the relevant negotiations will not begin until April 2024 at the earliest. The most likely to take action at the moment is Comcast, which may buy and merge WDB, such as NBC Universal (NBCUniversal).

However, WBD and Comcast have not entered into formal contact after all. Now Zaslav is busy attracting talent management DC, but in the end it is likely to be taken over by Michael de Luka and Pam Abdy, who currently manages DC.Michael de Luka is a comic fan. He created "Blade" a few years ago when he was working on New Line and plans to develop an "Iron Man" movie, but the then chairman of the New Line ended up not passing the project and thought it was too risky. An insider who has worked with De Luka for a long time revealed, "Long time before various comic universes became popular, Michael De Luka already had many ideas."

pictures: Warner Bros. Movie Official Weibo, etc.

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