The Warner Bros. Discovery has announced a 10-year MCU-style DC film plan

The last 48 hours have been particularly tumultuous at home Warner Bros.. Upon cancellation of Batgirl with production now complete and over, many wondered what was the reasoning behind a certain sensational decision that has very few precedents in the history of the industry.

In this climate of renewed uncertainty that has suddenly enveloped all DC projects currently underway, the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. David Zaslav to evaluate the future situation of the brand. In recent weeks Zaslav has made no secret of his intention to directly compete with Marvel Studios in front of the film, and at the most recent company meeting he explained in more detail his ambitious plans for the future.

During the company’s most recent earnings call on Thursday, Zaslav reflected at length on the status of DC’s properties – especially Batman, Superman And Wonder Woman – indicates in some cases how it should return to being key elements of the brand in the company’s new strategy. In fact, during the meeting, the new CEO declared:

“These are the brands that are known all over the world. And as part of all this, we will focus on quality. The DC brand is something we think we can improve and we’re focused on that right now“.

In order not to repeat the planning mistakes that have long held the film development of DC Extended Universe in recent years, Zaslav then announced that he wanted to put together a team that would have the task of building a “ten-year plan focused solely on DC“. So we’re talking about a long-term strategy, which at first glance seems a bit like the one adopted by Disney towards Marvel Studios.

If it is confirmed, it represents a completely new thing for the DC Extended Universe project. A project like that started by Kevin Feige and associates remains unique in the industry to this day, and it remains unlikely that the DC Movies may opt to slavishly replicate the model. However, it is clear that long-term planning as done by Marvel Studios can only represent a huge advantage in production, especially in terms of narrative coherence and continuity.

Over time, the DCEU’s continuity narrative has often had to contend with sudden management changes at Warner and DC Films, which in recent years have also focused on creating television shows for the HBO Max catalog. . However, the new perspective introduced by Zaslav seems to go in a different direction.

While streaming may be the right platform for some DCEU series, according to the CEO, it may not be for feature films focused on superheroes, as in the most recent case of Batgirl. The previous strategy aimed to keep attention high on the HBO Max platform, but this came at the expense of the film product and the revenues associated with it.

During the question and answer session that took place at the meeting, Zaslav explained how the previous administration was in his view not beneficial to the economy:

“This idea of ​​direct streaming of very expensive movies – we don’t see any economic sense, we can’t find real economic value in that, so we’re going to make a drastic change of strategy.“.

Then Zaslav reiterated that the greatest effort should be devoted to film products:

“We would absolutely welcome theatrical releases, as we believe it creates more interest and demand, and can also provide great marketing returns, generating word of mouth that will continue with the streaming launch and subsequent releases. exit window. We have a different take on the convenience of streaming movies directly, and we’ve taken some aggressive steps to correct the previous approach.“.

At the end, Zaslav does not return to talking about the clean Batgirl, which in the context of DC should remain an isolated case. The CEO said that he is really enthusiastic about the film projects that are currently in development and will soon be released, such as Black Adam And Shazam! Wrath of the godsuntil highly anticipated The Flash in just over a year. The manager therefore seems to have clear ideas about the future of the DC Extended Universe, all that remains is to wait for the strategy adopted to reveal itself in its entirety.

Source: Various