With studio chiefs in the hot seat, Warner Bros. bets on an ambitious film lineup
During their presentation at CinemaCon — the movie business' trade show in Las Vegas — they elicited cheers after bringing out Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor to promote their upcoming film, 'One Battle After Another.'
They got the audience to collectively groan in horror at a particularly gory clip from 'Final Destination: Bloodlines' involving an MRI machine, body piercings and a vending machine spring.
And they introduced the star of 'The Bride!' as well as Superman himself, David Corenswet, who walked on stage to the 'Superman' score with co-stars Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult.
'It's a great honor to play a role that exists so clearly in the public consciousness,' Corenswet said onstage, after receiving loud applause.
And yet, Abdy and De Luca's future — and the success of Warner Bros.' film bets — is far from certain. After a string of box office disappointments and grumblings about high budgets, rumors have been swirling that De Luca and Abdy's days at the top of the nearly 102-year-old studio are numbered, which the studio has denied.
In October, the Burbank studio's highly anticipated 'Joker: Folie à Deux' was a dud, falling far short of expectations despite a reported budget of at least $190 million before marketing. Director Todd Phillips was given much freedom to make his divisive musical sequel starring Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. The gamble backfired.
Then in March, Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho's sci-fi thriller 'Mickey 17' struggled at the box office. The film has made only $121 million globally, despite a reported budget of $118 million. The Robert De Niro-led mob movie 'The Alto Knights' also bombed with $9 million.
The studio is counting on the family-friendly and video game-inspired 'A Minecraft Movie,' which comes out in theaters this weekend, to turn its fortunes around. It's expected to open with about $60 million in domestic ticket sales. (Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. president of global theatrical distribution, told the Colosseum crowd Tuesday that advance sales have been 'impressive.')
The presentation featured some high-stakes gambles.
De Luca and Abdy have bet on big budget projects by auteur directors not based on tested intellectual property, the kinds of movies that make risk-averse studio chiefs sweat bullets. The executives showed footage for 'One Battle After Another,' a $130-million crime thriller written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.
'It's an incredibly epic movie,' DiCaprio said onstage.
They also showed footage from Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Bride!,' which will arrive in theaters next year and has a reported budget of $80 million. Abdy told the crowd Tuesday night that 'audiences will be knocked out' by Gyllenhaal's take on the classic Mary Shelley story of 'Frankenstein,' saying it 'introduces us to a world that could only spring from Maggie's brilliant imagination.'
'It will rock your world,' De Luca added.
There was also footage from Zach Cregger's 'Weapons,' a summer horror film about an entire classroom of children that goes missing, and a video message from Ryan Coogler to promote his upcoming film 'Sinners.'
'There's a lot to look forward to over the next year,' Abdy said.
Attendees leaving the Colosseum on Tuesday night mused that the presentation gave them confidence in the studio's slate of films.
'Warner Bros. showcased a lot of reason to be optimistic about their slate as the CinemaCon presentation highlighted a number of high-potential, diverse, and commercially attractive releases later this year and beyond,' said Shawn Robbins, founder of film business analysis site Box Office Theory.
Some of the studio's box office struggles predate Abdy and De Luca's tenure and were projects green-lighted by a previous regime.
De Luca and Abdy were named to lead the storied studio in 2022, replacing Toby Emmerich. They previously helmed MGM's movie operations, where they championed filmmaker-driven movies such as Anderson's 'Licorice Pizza' and Ridley Scott's 'House of Gucci.' Amazon had closed an $8.5-billion deal to purchase MGM, home of the 'Creed' and James Bond films.
Nonetheless, the string of flops has led to questions about their leadership and created uncertainty at the studio, which has already gone through a major shakeup this year. Marketing chief Josh Goldstine and international film distribution head Andrew Cripps announced their departures in January.
The pressure on the film division comes as Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav has taken much interest in its operations. The company is saddled with billions of dollars in debt and has slashed thousands of jobs to cut costs.
The perceived instability of the film studio's leadership has made some filmmakers wary about setting up projects with Warner Bros., especially those that may need development, said a Hollywood insider who requested anonymity to protect relationships.
Warner Bros. rebutted speculation that Abdy and De Luca's jobs are in jeopardy. In a statement to Bloomberg, company spokesperson Robert Gibbs said that 'the rumor of an imminent leadership change at the studio is not accurate.'
Under De Luca and Abdy's watch, the studio relaunched its animation division, which has five films in production, including 'The Cat in the Hat.' Subsidiary New Line Cinema has franchise installments, including 'The Conjuring: Last Rites' and a 'Mortal Kombat' sequel. (After a 'Final Destination: Bloodlines' clip, Brenner, with a deadpan expression, said, 'See you at the Oscars.')
For De Luca, joining Warner Bros was a bit of a homecoming. He'd previously served as New Line's president of production until he was fired in 2001 after a run of box office flops. His replacement was Emmerich.
Both De Luca and Abdy are known for their taste and being filmmaker friendly. De Luca produced 'The Social Network,' while Abdy did 'Garden State' and 'Queen & Slim.'
Fellow Warner Bros. executives on stage for the CinemaCon presentation offered praise and support for Abdy and De Luca's leadership, as well as the studio's future.
Bill Damaschke, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, thanked the pair onstage for allowing him to join the team, saying their shared vision was 'truly inspiring.'
'Telling original stories and taking risks is the only path toward creating new global franchises,' Damaschke said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
12 hours ago
- New York Post
Hollywood is fresh out of ideas — so now we have a ‘Freakier Friday'
Telling tales as old as time America. Land of the free, home of the brave. Lurching backward. Everything old is getting retold. TV in May did a tribute to Joan Rivers who left us in 2014. We just got a Barbara Walters documentary. Clooney schlepped back from Italy where he lives — not the USA — to reprieve 'Good Night and Good Luck,' which opened back when Jill Biden was brunette. You don't have to stay home and watch old movies. You can now watch new movies with old stars. People is an ancient magazine. Its new cover's big story is who? WHO? Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Nice to see Lindsay — she's had addiction stuff, setbacks, legal misery, near bankruptcy, parent trouble, sobriety issues, career fallout and no front and center top shot hot spot since Thomas Jefferson did it with his mistress. Full on, front and center, with her on that magazine cover? Jamie Lee Curtis. Lovely. Talented. Great actress. But hasn't carried a movie since Marilyn Monroe needed a training bra. We're now seeing specks of survival of the FFs: Formerly Famous. Clint Eastwood? Recently directed something called 'Juror #2.' In it, remember J.K. Simmons? Remember Clint whose last previous shot was 2021's 'Cry Macho' for Warner Bros. for whom he worked from 1971 until 2014. How about great Dick Van Dyke? Still dancing barefoot at nearly 100 and yet he recently knocked off Coldplay's new music thing 'All My Love.' And Broadway? Oy. Rejuicing Shakespeare who hasn't written anything new in weeks. Let's re-applaud everybody's favorite 'Chicago'? The thing's been around since before the city began. 'Hamilton'? A re-re-re-do. It's lasted longer than the human Hamilton. How about rejuicing 'The Rocky Horror Show' which opened 1975 — and — ready? — one of the revivals had me in it. Broadway — now known as Shrivelway — just had — again- again — 'Glengarry Glen Ross.' It recently had — again — again — 'Sunset Boulevard' with Nicole Scherzinger, who just closed in the over-trafficked musical, which hasn't changed except for its prices. And rejuiced Clooney, 64, who reopened in rererevivalled 'Good Night and Good Luck.' Wait. More. Comes now a TV birth. Neil Patrick Harris will host TV's new thing, 'What's in the Box?' New? Its contestants guess what's in a box. Wow! Sounds great. Right out of what went out in the '60s. Wait. More. Sept. 12. Joe's Pub is bringing us 'The Ballad of JonBenét Ramsey.' It's a musical. Supposedly high camp about a child who was murdered years ago. Not sure exactly what songs go with death but just letting you know. And if scratching around for the smell of an oldie movie, there's the newie 'Jurassic World: Rebirth.' Spielberg exec-produced the thing with Mahershala Ali and Scarlett Johansson, who says: 'It's like a version of 'Jaws' having maybe a baby with 'Jurassic,' ' and if you understand that you're a better man than I am Gunga Din. So three New York mice were lapping up the spilled scotch on the floor. Stoned, said one: 'I'm going to find Obama and knock him out.' Said the second: 'I'm going to take on that useless ex FBI chief.' The third mouse, in from The Bronx, said: 'You guys do what you want. I'm going upstairs to make love to the cat.' Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
Geek Tyrant
17 hours ago
- Geek Tyrant
GREMLINS 3 Script Is Written and Ready to Go, but It's Waiting on Steven Spielberg's Greenlight — GeekTyrant
Several months ago we learned that Gremlins 3 was in development, and now it seems like its very close to going into production. According to Zach Galligan, who played Billy Peltzer in the original Gremlins films, the third installment has a completed script. All that's left is a thumbs-up from Steven Spielberg. Speaking at Comic-Con Manchester, Galligan told fans, 'After 35 years, they've come up with a script. Warner Bros. is incredibly interested in doing it, apparently it's waiting on Mr. Spielberg to read it and approve it.' That's big news for fans of the mischievous Mogwai. Galligan also pointed to the success of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice as the driving force behind the revival of legacy sequels. That movie brought back Michael Keaton nearly four decades after Tim Burton's original, and now Warner Bros. seems hungry to revisit more of its classic IPs, including Gremlins 3 and a new The Goonies sequel. Back in April, Warner Bros. Pictures co-chair/CEO Pam Abdy said, 'We're super excited about Amblin developing with Chris Columbus new entries in the Gremlins and Goonies franchises.' If these films are going to actually happen, I just hope that the stories and scripts are strong! I think it's pretty wild that we actually might be getting a Gremlin's 3 movie and it will be interesting to see what story it will tell. This isn't the first time Gremlins 3 has sparked excitement. The film has been in some form of development hell for years, with Chris Columbus, who wrote the original film and directed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , frequently championing the project. In fact, back in 2017, Columbus revealed he was 'aggressively working' on a 'twisted and dark script' with writer Carl Ellsworth. Importantly, Columbus has made it clear that Gremlins 3 would not be a reboot. It's a direct sequel and he even said in 2020 that the team would stick with practical effects rather than CGI, using classic puppets and animatronics to bring the creatures to life once again. If Spielberg gives his seal of approval and things move quickly, filming could begin next year. That means we might finally see Gremlins 3 hit theaters in 2027. Until then, you can stream Gremlins and Gremlins: The New Batch now on Amazon Prime. Keep your Mogwai dry, and stay tuned for more updates. Via: TikTok
Digital Trends
18 hours ago
- Digital Trends
Could DC actually be the future of comic book movies?
Since the fateful day in 2008 when Iron Man hit theaters, Marvel has enjoyed an almost uncontested reign as the king of comic book movies. In an age when superheroes were everywhere at the movie theater, Marvel was the studio that best understood how to bring them to life and make even people who had never read a comic book in their lives care about them. All of that reached what felt like a pretty natural climax with 2019's Avengers: Endgame, which became one of the biggest movies in the history of forever and capped off more than a decade of sprawling storytelling. Even as Endgame retired several of the franchise's core heroes, Marvel seemed determined to keep things going. Recommended Videos The results over the last six years have been less than pretty. Despite experiencing some successes, Marvel has faced significantly more failures compared to earlier periods, creating an opportunity for other franchises to flourish. DC was caught flat-footed when Marvel first came out of the gate. They had Christopher Nolan's Batman movies, but other than that, Warner Bros. simply didn't have a good way to compete. Their first attempt was the DC Extended Universe, which launched with 2013's Man of Steel and was a brief commercial success but was never as critically beloved as its Marvel alternative. Even more crucially, these movies never felt like they were genuine phenomena in quite the same way Marvel was. So, while Marvel continues the cinematic universe it started in 2008, DC is launching a new one this year. James Gunn's Superman is the first entry in that new universe, and it's also the first time I wondered whether Marvel might really be in trouble. While the numbers were close, Superman outgrossed Marvel's Fantastic Four: First Steps during its first weekend, and for the first time in more than a decade, DC might have the edge when it comes to word of mouth. Here's why DC could represent the future of comic book storytelling: DC is ready to embrace the silliness of its project Part of the Marvel movies' tremendous success has come from the way they manage to delicately balance two conflicting impulses in superhero storytelling. The first was toward telling stories that were real, grounded, and tactile. The second was to embrace the silliness inherent in superhero stories and use that to make the movies fun and colorful. Marvel essentially struck a balance, creating a universe populated by witty characters who donned the right costumes while also being aware of the humor in their situations. That wry, knowing attitude helped the movies do all the comic book stuff even as they also assured audiences that they knew it was a little bit nerdy. It's a tone that delivered tremendous results, but one that also began to wear thin after more than a decade. By contrast, Superman leaned all the way into the silly side. It's a movie filled with color where most scenes are set during the day, and one where every character feels both like a real person and like they were pulled from a comic. There's much less winking at the audience and much more earnest exploration of why people are drawn toward comic books to begin with. It's a signal that DC is not just going to try to do the Marvel thing. They're building a universe their own way, and that should be fascinating to watch. They are building out from the middle Marvel was doing something that had never been done before, and as a result, they started small. A few heroes, then a few more, until the universe felt massive and you were amazed that all of these characters could fit in a single movie together. By contrast, DC seems to know that we're all a little tired of origin stories. Instead, Superman drops us right in the middle of the action and trusts us to understand that superheroes have been around for a while. Crucially, while he's the most powerful superhero, Superman is not fighting bad guys on his own. Instead, he's dealing with the complexity of working with other people from the beginning in a universe where no one has any questions about what superheroes are. This approach feels much more like jumping right into a comic book where your favorite heroes are all right there. Some of them might not be present, but on the whole, the impression is one of a universe that is stuffed with both life and activity. In addition to avoiding the traps of origin stories, this approach also meets superhero fans where they are. We no longer need our hands to be held. We can simply dive in with only a little bit of intro text to orient us to what's going on. They are casting well, but aren't casting stars This might seem like a small thing, but it speaks to the project of the DCU that Superman is filled with great actors who are not major movie stars. If they keep making these movies, they will eventually become stars. That's part of the problem that Marvel is dealing with now. When you're trying to build a universe in which heroes can appear in multiple properties, you have to have great actors who can work in multiple tones and genres. You need actors who aren't going to try to take all your money for every appearance they put in. DC is trying to build a world that doesn't leave you wondering why Superman isn't on screen any time the world is ending, and part of that is making sure that Superman does show up, at least sometimes. DC wants you to believe in these movies Perhaps most importantly, DC seems like a sincere attempt to remind people why they like these movies to begin with. As the lore of Marvel gets more and more convoluted, DC could be building a new way forward, one that could make it a sincere, sweet, candy-colored alternative to the multiverse that Marvel has introduced.
