Surprise behind-the-scenes discovery at Warner Bros. bat girl According to Gunnar Wiedenfels, the company’s chief financial officer, it was “a bit of a stretch.”
Speaking at the Bank of America conference on Thursday, the CEO said that while the company has made difficult decisions about its investments and content strategy, the focus on what should have been an HBO Max original movie has gone too far with the media coverage. , Warner remains committed to growing its content business.
“Obviously, course corrections, making changes quickly where we didn’t agree with the path that WarnerMedia was taking, took a lot of courage and upfront execution,” said Wiedenfels, adding: bat girl Specifically: “I don’t think it’s unusual. We are a creative industry and one of the elements of creativity is that there are judgments and opinions about what the potential of a particular intellectual property could be. ”
Wiedenfels said the company’s creative leaders, such as film directors Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdi, make the content decisions, but “my team helped them by providing financial data whenever possible and evaluating the potential from a financial perspective.” ” .”
He noted that while many titles focus on content as a source of cost savings, the company expects most of its synergies to come beyond content. WBD made an $825 million reduction in content last quarter, which was not anticipated bat girl.
Additionally, Wiedenfels says the company is spending more money than ever before (speaking of the combined costs of the two companies), although he added, “I’m happy to see a more rational approach to spending on content.
“We’ve made some course corrections, but we’re in the business of creating compelling content and storytelling, and we’re going to fund it,” he added.
Wiedenfels also said that WBD CEO David Zaslav is still working on the overall strategy, but it’s just getting started.
“The first priority was getting the team in place, and I think David has now put together a strong, almost complete management team,” Wiedenfels said, adding that “it took a lot of courage to make the decision and get the company up and running.” and running fast. We want to see him on the track.”
But there are also opportunities to take a company’s intellectual property out of storage.
“I think there are some clear priorities. DC stands out,” Wiedenfels said, noting the search for someone to lead the comic book brand’s empire. “As you know, David is still looking for someone to direct this specifically. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has great potential if we get it right… There’s a lot of flyby, but obviously if you look at it from a risk-reward perspective, using some of the existing brands improves your return profile. “
Looking further afield, Wiedenfels showed signs of optimism and caution.
On the one hand, he said, “I think the opportunity is huge, I see it as a Boeing 747 flying on a single engine,” pointing out all the potential options on the table.
But on the other hand, he said, the financial data his team had access to after the merger did not match some of what they had before the merger, forcing adjustments.
He also highlighted that “there is uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment, there is no doubt about it”.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
