David Zaslav, the Warner Bros Discovery CEO is under deep water for a variety of reasons. From financial troubles to fans calling him out for some reason or the other. Recently the studio was severely criticized online for canceling John Cena’s finished semi-animated film, Coyote vs Acme.
But that wasn’t the only finished project that WB had canceled, it had also shelved Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Hunt. After online backlash and reports of filmmakers boycotting the studio, it was reported that WB is willing to give Cena’s film another chance. However, fans don’t seem to be satisfied enough for when recently Zaslav defended WB for shelving movies as tax write-offs, they called him out again on social media with some even demanding he resign.
David Zaslav Defends WB’s Decision To Shelve John Cena Film
WB has had many upheavals and disappointments recently, from movies not being able to make the expected gross to facing financial losses. But perhaps its biggest issue has been shelving movies as tax write-offs and the inevitable social media storm it brings about in its wake. Since last year, the studio has canceled three finished, highly anticipated movies, Coyote vs Acme, Batgirl, and Scoob!
While the online community somewhat made peace with the latter two projects being killed, the news of John Cena‘s film hit the hardest. While at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit (via Deadline), WB Discovery CEO David Zaslav was asked about the studio’s recent decisions and he stated,
“We’re at a very hard time that requires hard decisions, and many of them are unpopular… Warner Brothers team and HBO made a number of decisions. They were hard. But when I look at the health of our company today, we needed to make those decisions. And it took real courage.”
Blaming the studio’s troubles and hard decisions on ‘generation disruptions’, Zaslav maintained that they had to ‘act fast’ to reverse the losses they as a traditional media company had been facing. Nonetheless, his comments led to another social media backlash.
David Zaslav’s Comments Draw Intense Fan Ire On Social Media
When WB canceled Coyote vs Acme, it faced severe backlash, when it backtracked on its decision to have the filmmakers shop the movie to potential buyers (via THR), it again faced severe backlash for canceling it in the first place, and now as CEO David Zaslav is defending the studios decisions, fans just seem to have had enough. Here is how many of the social media users reacted to his recent comments,
The only courage he's shown is the courage to be a laughingstock by saying those decisions took courage.
— Tom Remes (@tremes15) November 29, 2023
Courage to shelve a movie that had Oscar winner Brendan Frasier and Emmy winner Michael Keaton in it? C'mon.
— Sorrymissjackson702 (@Sorrymissjacks7) November 29, 2023
It would’ve been a real courage if he resigned and left Hollywood for good.
— Gene Airs 👨🏻🍳 (@GeneAirs) November 30, 2023
#DavidZalsav is just digging his own grave. Those decisions should have made then, before green lighting the movie. Not after the film makers spend months on the movie just to scarp it away @wbpictures #WarnerBros and this will only mean no filmmaker will work with @wbpictures
— Nalindra (@Nalindra88) November 30, 2023
He’s right, it takes real courage to sit on an island of deception and point fingers to dispose of art based on money.
Such a difficult decision to throw away countless hours, days, months and years of hard work from creatives for the sake of a tax write off.
So painful. 🥹🙄
— ☁️ PIERRE KING (@heypierreking) November 29, 2023
That sounds like the kind of "courage" it took for Trump to file for bankruptcy after losing money with a casino. Sounds more like Zaslav doesn't know how to run a movie studio.
— Chris Peterson (@chriswpete) November 29, 2023
These aren’t the most brutal of comments going around on social media, for many fans have been demanding he resign seeing the last couple of projects WB has released. Furthermore, fans have been calling it cowardice of the studio to cancel highly anticipated projects that fans were desperately waiting for.
With social media largely against the studio, only time would tell whether WB would be able to overcome this tide of negative public opinion or would further continue on its path of what fans have been calling ‘digging its own grave’.
