Now on the precipice of success, Sarandos is threatening to create one of the most damaging media conglomerates in the history of motion picture entertainment. The result will be more layoffs in Hollywood, fewer and lower-quality movies in theaters around the world, and at higher prices. The deal, which is motivated first and foremost by greed—Zaslav stands to earn $567 million from the sale, potentially making him a billionaire—should not just be blocked. Both companies should be broken up for parts, their streaming platforms spun off. The fact that the merger has even been agreed upon proves that a much deeper, more sinister takeover has already been completed: The studios are willingly charting a different future for entertainment.

  • Otter@lemmy.caEnglish
    3·
    12 days ago

    Even more baffling is the claim:

    Warner Bros., for its part, has managed to find continued success with theatrical releases, both blockbuster franchises (the DC universe) *{and two small budget indie films that turned into hits and tripled their budgets, for a business nonetheless still bleeding profits}

    The DC Universe is WB’s leading success story? The universe with famously more flops than box office winners??

    Didn’t they also cancel a bunch of smaller projects for tax reasons

    • pulsewidth@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      12 days ago

      I can think of Batgirl (~2022) off the top of my head. Which cost $90mil and completed, but shelved to write it off as a huge tax loss with Hollywood accounting no doubt inflating the numbers everywhere.

      What’s interesting is that it cost as much as their success story ‘Sinners (2025)’ which was also predicted to be a box office flop by many industry insiders, yet went on to success. So who knows… they may have tossed a hit for a tax write off.

      Wile E Coyote movie too, I’m really hoping that eventually surfaces because it was produced by James Gunn and had a bunch of talented people involved. Will Forte, who’s humour I really enjoy:

      “When I first heard that our movie was getting ‘deleted’ I hadn’t seen it yet, so I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking: this thing must be a hunk of junk. But then I saw it. And it’s incredible.”