Comedy Wile E. Coyote vs. ACME

[samsnee]

Someone somewhere did the math. Licensing or selling it won’t help as much as the tax write-off.

If I were Gunn, I’d be pissed. This also means Zaslav will shelve any movie he doesn’t think will be profitable. How do you build a cinematic universe around that I don’t know.

 

[Arachnerd]

History is literally repeating itself here. And the sad thing is, it most likely won't be the last time.

 

[TheVileOne]

Thats what i mean. Something else is at work here. Something influenced Zaslav into this decision because this literally makes no business sense.

It wouldn't surprise me, but Zaslav just seems totally clueless at this point and has no idea what he's doing. He's creatively bankrupt and has no business running a theme park let alone a movie studio.

 

[TheVileOne]

Someone somewhere did the math. Licensing or selling it won’t help as much as the tax write-off.

If I were Gunn, I’d be pissed. This also means Zaslav will shelve any movie he doesn’t think will be profitable. How do you build a cinematic universe around that I don’t know.

I just can't believe that at all. You release a movie, it has a chance of growing and finding a life of its own, now you're just not even giving it a chance. They shelved it for a $30 million tax write-off. That means they lost over $40 million on this definitely. It didn't even need to get a wide theatrical release.

Maybe DC League of Super-Pets scared Zaslav.

FYI, Space Jam: A New Legacy made $70 million domestically and $163 million worldwide, and that's during a global pandemic and with day and date release. That's also with terrible reviews.

 

[kguillou]

What a f***ing joke. As someone who one day aspired to work in this business Hollywood is just making me sick with each passing month.

 

[Mani-Man]

It wouldn't surprise me, but Zaslav just seems totally clueless at this point and has no idea what he's doing. He's creatively bankrupt and has no business running a theme park let alone a movie studio.

It has to be that, i dont know how else you can excuse this.
Like, 30 Million from a 70 Million movie? How is this a smart idea?
Even if they need the Money desperate for...i dont know marketing Aquaman or so, that is really not a smart decision.
You still wasted 40 Million on a movie you never will make profit with.
Not because it failed, but because Zaslav just thinks it fails despite good test screening and interest from outside studios to have the movie.

I need experts to explain this to me because i cant see how this was a smart decision.

 

[Dr.]

Someone somewhere did the math. Licensing or selling it won’t help as much as the tax write-off.

Without getting too deep into the accounting weeds, I’d be interested in the case that these number-crunchers would make. :nerdy:

By my own amateur analysis, ACME would need to gross about $280M at the (world-wide) BO to break even. With only a $200M gross, WB would lose about $40M — which (as I understand it) is the same loss it willingly took by abandoning ACME and booking the $30M write-down. (For the sake of argument, I’m assuming WB gets 100% of the $30M.) Anything less than $200M and the write-down starts to make financial (if not PR) sense. I think. OTOH, the movie might have been a (modest or big) hit. I.e., profitable. So it seems to come down to which crystal ball the execs go with. (And note that the BO isn’t the only source of studio revenue. There’s also streaming, DVD and (eventually) commercial TV.)

Another thing I don’t get… At the time of Batgirl’s cancellation, it was explained that WB was taking advantage of a special (one-time-only?) write-off/write-down opportunity due to the WB-Discovery corporate merger. And yet, here we go again with another cancellation — this time of a fully completed movie. Is this the new normal?

BTW, I can’t help thinking (again) of Zack Snyder’s lucky timing. He managed to get ZSJL financed, completed and actually released (!) just prior to the Zaslav regime.

 

[TheVileOne]

Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Says Restructuring and Content Write-Off Frenzy Is Over in 2023: ‘We’re Done With That Chapter’

Warner Bros. Discovery is entering a new era in 2023 focused on "rebuilding" compared to 2022's "restructuring" frenzy, according to CFO.

variety.com

“We took a little bit of time to make sure that we do it properly. For some of the titles, we’ve found new homes elsewhere. That’s why this took six or seven months. But I think we’ve come to great solutions and, most importantly, we’re done with that chapter."

Less than a year ago. A total crock of horse manure.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Lasirius]

This is all just too depressing.

 

[GREEN =w= DAY]

I really despise Zaslav. The man is totally clueless and WB just keeps showing how poorly they are run. It’s no surprise that Christopher Nolan does not want to work with WB anymore

 

[Pennywise]

It’s weird Gunn hasn’t responded to the film being shelved, as he helped work on the script and produced it.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

It’s weird Gunn hasn’t responded to the film being shelved, as he helped work on the script and produced it.

What's he going to say? "The movie I worked on sucked, so I agree with it being shelved for a tax break." "I am not happy that the man who put me in charge of the entire DC movie franchise also canned a movie I worked hard on for a tax break." Any response would become twisted and distorted by social media and the sites and would likely cause a PR **** storm. I can't imagine he is very happy about it, but he's not in the position right now to speak out about it.

 

[kguillou]

Yup, there is literally nothing Gunn could or should say except stay silent.

 

[Invader Joker]

I think he doesn't care lol Zaslav canned a Looney Toones movie he wrote but he also gave Gunn an entire studio in which he can do whatever passion project he wants. For him it evens out in the end.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I am sure Gunn cares, but I don't think he is risking his job running DC over it

 

[Filmfreak]

Yeah, he definitely cares both for the movie itself and because it proves that even the projects of a person in his position aren't safe at all.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

I think he doesn't care lol Zaslav canned a Looney Toones movie he wrote but he also gave Gunn an entire studio in which he can do whatever passion project he wants. For him it evens out in the end.

Its more likely that its just not a hill he is going to die on.

 

[Arachnerd]

Gunn speaking out about this would only incentivize Zaslav to can him from running DC Studios. I'm sure he's not happy about this, but he has to keep quiet and play ball if he wants to keep being attached to the DCU.

 

[SwordOfMorning]

There is a zero percent chance Gunn isn't annoyed about this unless he's a complete spineless bootlicker. But you do have to pick your battles and him making a big public deal about it isn't a terribly realistic expectation sadly, as much as in an ideal world he'd probably resign over it (frankly I don't think anyone should be working with WB at this point).

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

This is really upsetting.

 

[Arachnerd]

 

[SwordOfMorning]

 

[Iceman]

Pure art, down the drain.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Without getting too deep into the accounting weeds, I’d be interested in the case that these number-crunchers would make. :nerdy:

By my own amateur analysis, ACME would need to gross about $280M at the (world-wide) BO to break even. With only a $200M gross, WB would lose about $40M — which (as I understand it) is the same loss it willingly took by abandoning ACME and booking the $30M write-down. (For the sake of argument, I’m assuming WB gets 100% of the $30M.) Anything less than $200M and the write-down starts to make financial (if not PR) sense. I think. OTOH, the movie might have been a (modest or big) hit. I.e., profitable. So it seems to come down to which crystal ball the execs go with. (And note that the BO isn’t the only source of studio revenue. There’s also streaming, DVD and (eventually) commercial TV.)

Another thing I don’t get… At the time of Batgirl’s cancellation, it was explained that WB was taking advantage of a special (one-time-only?) write-off/write-down opportunity due to the WB-Discovery corporate merger. And yet, here we go again with another cancellation — this time of a fully completed movie. Is this the new normal?

BTW, I can’t help thinking (again) of Zack Snyder’s lucky timing. He managed to get ZSJL financed, completed and actually released (!) just prior to the Zaslav regime.

Wait, where is that equation coming from? The high-end of internet budget math I've seen is a x2.5 return, which would come out to around $175 million?