By Chad Shreeves
It seems like every day lately HBO Max and their new owners under Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) have had some kind of negative press written about them. From shuffling executives to pulled content to outright cancelling already filmed projects, so much has come out that has drawn the ire of fandom.
It’s never fun when projects with any anticipation to them are pulled, let alone films that had already been shot and were deep into post production such as Batgirl. But in the midst of the anger and resentment toward the new management, it’s important to understand why we got there.
The Kilar Era
Even prior to the acquisition, HBO Max and their leadership at WarnerMedia were not in a very good place. They faced billions of dollars in debt and mixed reception to many of their projects. Plus the launch of HBO Max as a whole was rocky, to say the least. The phrase “they have no clue what they’re doing” was uttered many times by fans.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic required every streaming service and studio to pivot drastically as streaming became the dominant form of entertainment for millions of people. The huge influx of subscribers brought in billions in additional revenue, but it came at a cost.
It was clear studio chief Jason Kilar believed the theatrical exhibition industry was going to collapse sooner rather than later. And he wanted HBO Max to be the leader in the streaming game when it happened.
Kilar escalated development on original content. He brought in a wide variety of talent from across the globe to create a new original slate that was trumped only by Netflix. The biggest move yet came next.
The Big Movement
In December 2020, DC’s Wonder Woman 1984 released simultaneously in theaters and HBO Max. After that, the entirety of their 2021 film slate featured a 30-day streaming window at the same time it was playing in theaters. Warner Bros had their proverbial cake and ate it too.
Fans loved the very consumer-friendly move, and many praised HBO Max and subscriptions rose throughout 2021. At-home theatrical releases combined with an onslaught of high quality original content made HBO Max the go-to streaming service for millions of people.
Many financial analysts have noted that WarnerMedia left hundreds of millions on the table by performing this move. While streaming brings in a lot of revenue, streaming releases make far less than theatrical movies (at least for the time being). Big summer blockbusters that had positive reception from critics and fans such as In The Heights and The Suicide Squad struggled as the vast majority of people chose to stay home and stream the titles.
Under New Management
Enter new CEO David Zaslav. From the moment the WarnerMedia/Discovery Inc. merger was finalized in April 2022, he clearly believed that Warner Bros Discovery should be up there with Disney as one of the top entertainment giants in the world. But to get to that point, some tough decisions had to be made.
Zaslav struck quick and fast, pulling underperforming shows and movies from HBO Max to cut costs. Because most streaming networks, including HBO Max, do not release viewership numbers or ratings, it’s impossible to verify how low viewership was.
This all came to a head with the high profile cancellation of Batgirl, a film that was deep into post-production with a reported $90 million already spent on it. Cancelling a film is common, cancelling one this far along in development, however, is unheard of. For DC fans who were anticipating this film, it was heartbreak.
All of this has left a terrible taste in audiences’ mouths. And it’s easy to see why. Some fans have already cancelled their subscriptions. It’s very easy to jump to the conclusion that Zaslav and the management he brought in under him need to go.
But A Small Hope Remains
While it looks bad now, it’s fully possible that in two to three years WBD will be in a much better place and fans will be looking at Zaslav as the one who led them through it. Despite the fact he hasn’t done much, Zaslav has released a few small tidbits that could be promising.
First up is his full commitment to quality. If Batgirl was as bad as reported, then it would have been slammed at release. Many streaming services, including Netflix and Disney+, have taken a quantity over quality approach that has led to a mixed bag. If that results in less content but everything they release is good to great, it can only be seen as a win.
The second primarily concerns fans of the DC Universe. DC has often been criticized as being directionless and failing to find any kind of tone or quality that attracts fans en masse the way Marvel does. Zaslav has committed to a ten year plan, similar to the “phases” that Marvel uses. Reports indicate that he plans to appoint a Kevin Feige-like head of their own studio to oversee the universe as a whole. It’ll be years before the fruits of this plan will even be visible, but with enough patience fans may see a marked improvement on future DC projects.
Finally, look at the Warner Bros and HBO Max projects that have survived the great purge of Zaslav. House of the Dragon quickly became one of the best produced shows on television. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is showing no signs of slowing down. And the outrageous (in a good way) Harley Quinn was just picked up for a fourth season. If these are the types of shows that Zaslav is looking to expand and create, then the future looks bright.
In the end, it will be some time before we know exactly how this will shake out. WBD could be entering a new Golden Age, or they could become a pile of rubble under the weight of their competitors. As of now, it doesn’t look good for anybody. The business executives look greedy, the creatives are stressed and depressed, and the fans are caught in the middle to suffer. All we can hope is that the company comes out stronger for it.
