Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has doubled down on the groundwork being laid out for James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DCU plans. During the WBD quarterly earnings call, Zaslav shared his excitement for the decade-long hopes he has for the new iteration of the DC franchise to be a “game changer” for the company. He said:
"We're laser focused on building this DC 10-year plan," Zaslav explained. 'James was writing [Superman: Legacy]. We were spending time with him and Peter, and he had a vision for for DC that we are all in on. He presented that to you and the press about a month ago. It's one of the biggest value creation opportunities for us. I think it could and should be huge, because it wasn't being pushed on. If you look at DC, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, and then you take a look at Warner, as a company, without those three. It's those three of the tentpole products that, when someone's at dinner anywhere in the world, and they look at their watch at 8:00 and you mentioned Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, in every country, they leave dinner and they gotta go home to view that product that they love. It gives a huge advantage with those tentpoles.
We are a storytelling company, but we I believe we that we have an overwhelming advantage in the marketplace with the IP that we own, to take [and] get that advantage. We have to create great content with that IP. That's storytelling IP. We haven't done a Superman movie in 10 years. We haven't done new Harry Potter content in over a decade. And Lord of the Rings, which is a fantastic franchise. You know, if Andy Jassy was pushing on it at Amazon with with a lot of success, we own those movie rights. And so we want to optimize that, as a unified strategy for the company. We take that across film, TV, and even to sell out to third parties, because we have something. We have a treasure that no one else has. And you know, for us, DC alone could and should be a game changer. I think there was a lot left on the table. We got to take those swings. We got some of the best creatives in the industry right now focused on those swings."
Will Warner Bros. Discovery Come Back Fighting After A Tumultuous 2022?
It is clear from Zaslav’s comments that he believes there are plenty of exciting things coming from WBD in the future that will turn around the fortunes of the company after a rough end to 2022. While many DC fans were unhappy with the changes and cancelations to hit the franchise after the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery Inc, the first slate of DC announced by Gunn and Safran have offered up a few things to get fans on board with their changes.
Although there will continue to be unrest around the franchise until the new movies and TV shows begin rolling out in 2025, James Gunn and his active Twitter account will continue to keep a steady flow of teasers coming regarding casting, storylines and those other secret additions to the slate that have already been mentioned.