Since taking over WB following its merger with Discovery, David Zaslav was deemed perhaps the most hated man in Hollywood in a deleted GQ piece, following his practices of shelving projects. Not only did WBD start the trend of removing existing media from their platforms to avoid paying union-mandated residuals to talents, but the regime also notoriously deleted the finished feature Batgirl.
While this decision to shelve Batgirl to claim a tax write-off was unanimously condemned, it appears WBD is now doubling down on its drastic ways to reduce debt by shelving another finished feature. Per new reports, it appears WBD under Zaslav might shelve the film once and for all after rejecting the offers from Netflix and other industry giants.
David Zaslav Reportedly Eying to Shelve Shelve Coyote vs Acme Once and for All
In Batgirl‘s case, WBD claimed it was bad to the point of being unreleasable, which can’t be proven as no one outside production was allowed to watch it. But no specific reason has been issued for Coyote vs Acme, and per Rolling Stone, it scored exceptionally high in the test screenings, reportedly touching the high nineties. While WBD under David Zaslav seemingly backed down from shelving the film after the internet backlash and was looking to sell the rights to other major platforms, this might no longer be the case.
Offers from Netflix, Amazon, and Paramount were rejected, reported The Wrap, as WBD demanded not a penny less than $75-80M, even though WBD will only gain $30M from a tax write-off. And with the film once again on the verge of getting shelved, it has been reported that David Zaslav himself still hasn’t watched the film, leading to fans sharing their distaste for the practice.
it’s insane to me that projects that cost tens of millions of dollars and are worked on by hundreds of talented people can just be deleted and used as a tax write off
— a girl with no face ⚡️ (@Stop_Hammerzeit) February 9, 2024
Where's the hackers when you need them??
— Average Joe (@TheManjoelorian) February 9, 2024
Let’s all got to WB offices 😡🤬 pic.twitter.com/FfdWRV79bc
— A. Garcia 🏳️🌈 (@TonY_GarciAa97) February 9, 2024
How much yall want a bet that they rejected those offers on purpose?
— SolSLVR (@slvr_sol) February 9, 2024
Please somebody save this movie!
— W. Comics🔞🇻🇪 (@thekillerwc1) February 9, 2024
David Zaslav has been the worst thing to happen to Warner Bros and HBO. He’s done nothing but make incredibly poor decisions as CEO. The merger with Discovery was bad for the entire industry.
He needs to be fired and replaced expeditiously.
— Cell (@DekuFinalFlash) February 9, 2024
The morally reprehensible act of shelving media to reduce their debt by seeming tax write-offs has reasonably led to fans becoming furious, as the work of hundreds of artists should not go unnoticed.
WBD Didn’t Budge Despite Reportedly Being Offered Handsomely
Per the report, the other major industry giants were more than interested in securing the rights to the film, with Paramount even considering a theatrical release window for it. Their handsome offers to WBD had to do with the John Cena-led film’s high scores in the test screenings, which surprisingly, none of the top WBD execs, including Zaslav, watched. But despite the handsome offerings, WBD had no intentions of going down below $75-80M, even refusing to hear any counter offers.
While the truth behind their reasoning remains undisclosed, it appears WBD is dead set on shelving the film from any sort of release despite being offered some handsome numbers to do so.
