Warner Bros CEO Addresses Joker FAD Flops During Investor Call

[RAMROD 109,709]

After seeing pink last year with Barbie, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav on Thursday talked about strengthening his studios business going forward for consistency. 

Warners’ Margot Robbie blockbuster Barbie led the box office in 2023 with $1.44 billion in worldwide revenue. But a studios unit that fired on all cylinders, and yet is slowed by legacy cable TV brands facing headwinds from cord-cutting and advertising challenges, was addressed during a Thursday morning analyst call.

“There have been some real bright spots in our studios business. Our TV studio is on track to have its most profitable year in scripted content in the last five years,” Zaslav argued. And he talked up the movie side of the studio after the recent release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

“Even in an industry of hits and misses, we must acknowledge that our studios business must deliver more consistency,” Zaslav added. He also addressed an underperforming gaming unit. “It hasn’t been pretty on the gaming business,” Zaslav told analysts. “I think we have a reach chance now with a focus to have the gaming business be steadier.”

Back on the movie front, WBD’s studios business took a hit from Todd Phillips’ sequel Joker: Folie à Deux bombing in its box office debut. “For the past two years, we’ve been driving changes within our motion picture studio to improve green light governance and franchise management, which remain focal points going forward. This is a business where translating operational changes into results takes time, but I believe we’ll see those strategic shifts deliver improved outcomes in the coming years,” Zaslav said.

During the call, executives acknowledged that the performance of the recent movie release “Joker 2” had disappointed and could weigh on performance in its next quarter. Warner Bros. Discovery also took a charge of more than $100 million tied to its games division, with executives noting that they would start to focus more intently on core franchises and cut back on the number of new releases.

“Inconsistency also remains an issue at our motion picture studio, as reinforced recently by the disappointing results of ‘Joker 2,” said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav during the call.

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/warner-bros-david-zaslav-joker-1235341734/

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/joker-2-disappointing-david-zaslav-admits-1236203607/

[Bradley 59,173]

Sounds like something I could say about Disease as well 

28 minutes ago, RAMROD said:

“Inconsistency also remains an issue at our motion picture studio, as reinforced recently by the disappointing results of ‘Joker 2,” said Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav during the call.

 

[vanna shintuyu 10,809]

And I'm sure he thinks absolutely none of that has to do with him being an absolute dogshït CEO

[Bronco 11,749]

Interesting that they appeared to link JFAD's issues to their improved oversight and greenlighting process. 

Looks like the execs are essentially saying it wouldn't be made now under the newer structure

[The Ew from Judas 1,384]

I want to take a moment to say I’m glad to hear them acknowledge how bad their gaming division is-a few months back they said they wanted to double down on live service games, now it seems like they’re pulling back on that. Good.

[PunkTheFunk 124,469]

 

 

[MOT 3,081]

Wow, some weapons grade corporate speak there. Fire him.

[SpadesToStart 3,463]

2 hours ago, Bronco said:

Interesting that they appeared to link JFAD's issues to their improved oversight and greenlighting process. 

Looks like the execs are essentially saying it wouldn't be made now under the newer structure

From a business standpoint, the film, as it exists in its finished form, makes little commercial sense. It alienates the core demographic of the first movie by deconstructing the Joker power fantasy and by being a musical, yet it sidelines Gaga and doesn’t dive into the whimsical musical elements enough to be something fun for the girls and gays.

so that kind of is a failure on their end (tldr: don’t give Todd Phillips a blank check and no oversight)

[RoadToLouis 145]

At least he acknowleged an internal issue at Warner. Hollywood execs will blame everything but themselves for their film’s failure.
 

Warner has been a mess for quite a while, so let’s hope they learn from their lessons moving forward.