Following its merger with Discovery, Warner Bros removed dozens of movies and shows from its streaming platform, HBO Max. The CEO of Warner Bros, David Zaslav, also made major changes surrounding content production at the studio. Now months after canceling all those shows and movies, the studio head has shared the reason behind the huge step. He said that the studio still has all the shows and movies, which can be termed as beneficial or helpful.
Zaslav believes that the studio made the right decision by removing those projects. Warner Bros merged with Discovery in April 2022. Following the merger, the studio decided to stop developing new scripted shows on TNT and TBS. The decision was focused on saving the production cost for the studio.
David Zaslav Defends Cancelation of Shows and Movies
Under its new plans, Warner Bros Studios canceled several shows and movies. The studio also canceled the release of Scoob! Holiday Haunt and Batgirl. There were movies that were almost finished at the time of their cancelation.
In a new report from Deadline, Zaslav talked about the studios’ decision following its merger. He said that the studio did not remove any show or movie that would have been helpful for them. “All those write-offs… we didn’t take one show off a platform that is going to help us in any way,” he said.
David Zaslav claimed that the real reason all those shows and movies were removed was their quality and not tax write-offs. Warner Bros president also shared his future plans for the studio and said that the studio would continue to focus on quality content.
David Zaslav Believes The Golden Age of Content is Not Over
David Zaslav believes that the golden age of content is not over yet. According to a report from Deadline, the media executive said that the “golden age of content is absolutely not over”. He also revealed the studio’s plans to raise its savings target to $3.5B, up $500M over its initial target.
The studio has been cutting costs across the company by scraping movies like Batgirl film along with a number of high-profile series. It included shows like J.J. Abrams’ HBO drama series Demimonde, which was reported to have a budget of mid-$200M, along with series such as The Big D, Chad, and others on the Turner networks side.
Sharing his thoughts saying, “I was recently asked if I thought the golden age of content was over. I said absolutely not. There’s nothing more important than content, people consuming more content than they ever have. But it has to be great content. It’s no longer about how much.”
He also said, “The grand experiment of creating something at any cost is over.”
James Gunn and Peter Safran have recently joined the studio as the CEO and co-chair respectively. The duo will focus on future DC projects. The studio head, David Zaslav shared that he is looking forward to strengthening verticals like DC Studio and said that they have not worked on a Superman movie for a long time.
Warner Bros chief also shared that they would be focusing on releasing the movies in theatres as they do significantly better than those released on the streaming platform. Zaslav has also mentioned earlier that the studio will have a theatrical release, instead of releasing them directly on the streaming platform, for most of its future movies.
Source: Screenrant
