Summary

• Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav defends controversial movie cancellations, citing financial health and real courage as reasons.
• The decision to shelve completed films was prompted by the need for cost-saving measures.
• The CEO questions the worth of spending an additional $30-$40 million to promote movies already completed.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has defended the company’s string of controversial movie cancellations in the wake of the backlash regarding their decision to shelve Coyote vs. Acme, Batgirl, and others. Earlier this month, Warner Bros. sent shockwaves through the industry by announcing its intention to shelve the already completed Coyote vs. Acme in favor of an estimated $30 million tax break. However, the subsequent outcry from both fans and filmmakers alike would ultimately prompt the studio to reverse their decision, allowing the filmmakers to shop the finished product to other distributors.

Speaking at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit (via Variety), Zaslav suggested that the studio’s recent cost-saving measures, which included mass layoffs and content cancellations, were necessary for its financial health and required “real courage.” He also went on to elaborate on the decision to shelve already completed films, asking whether it was worth the additional $30-$40 million needed to promote the movies adequately. Check out his comments below:

“We decided that we had to have courage. The question is, should we take certain of these movies and open them in the theater and spend another $30 [million] or $40 million to promote them? When I look at the health of our company today, we needed to make those decisions. And it took real courage.”

Has The Damage To Warner Bros.'s Reputation Already Been Done?

While Warner Bros. may have eventually decided to allow Coyote vs. Acme director Dave Green and his producers (including DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn) the opportunity to shop the movie to alternate distributors, their original decision was not the first time the company had decided to shelve an already completed movie. Instead, the move marked a continuation of a worrying trend that had already begun in August 2022 when they decided to shelve the nearly completed Batgirl movie along with the animated Scooby-Doo movie Scoob! Holiday Haunt.

While there is now hope audiences will see Coyote vs. Acme, both Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt remain firmly locked away from audiences.

Once considered a filmmaker-friendly studio, in more recent years a string of controversial decisions has begun to sour that once-coveted standing among both audiences and Hollywood creatives. Earlier this month, No One Will Save You director Brian Duffield expressed his own outrage at the cancellation of Coyote vs. Acme by revealing that he had instructed his reps that he would not work with Warners Bros. in a now-deleted tweet. Reports have also emerged suggesting Warner Bros.’ unexpected reversal came partially as the result of other filmmakers cancelling their own meetings with the studio.

While Zaslav may be confident in suggesting that the hard decisions had to be made in the interests of the studio’s continued financial health, the potential costs and benefits of cancelling already completed movies should not only be measured in dollars alone. While companies like Warner Bros. Discovery may operate as multi-billion dollar corporations, at their heart, their products are still reliant on the toil, imagination and hard work of countless creatives. Should Warner Bros. continue on their current trajectory and pursue more cancellations like Coyote vs. Acme, it is possible they will find it increasingly harder to attract potential talent to begin with.

Source: Variety