Report: Warner Bros. Employees Believe Studio Will Be Sold Within Next 2 Years, Appears To Lend Credence To Previous Rumors
John F. Trent
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A new report claims that Warner Bros. will be sold within the next two years making upcoming DC subplots “feel quaint.”
Jason Momoa as Aquaman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023), Warner Bros. Pictures
This new report comes from Variety’s Tatiana Siegel who states, “Some on the lot are convinced that another company, most likely Universal, will buy Warner Bros. within two years, making recent DC subplots and upheavals feel quaint.”
She goes on to cite Wall Street analyst and venture capitalist Rich Greenfield who informed her, “The bottom line is they need to get DC to work whether Zaslav owns it, whether Brian Roberts owns it, whether somebody else owns it.”
Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, and Ezra Miller (again) as The Flash, Supergirl, and The Flash (again) in Andy Muschietti’s, “The Flash.”
Interestingly, Variety’s report lends credence to a rumor from YouTuber Syl Abdul who shared back in July that James Gunn’s upcoming Superman: Legacy film is a “way of showcasing the DC world to [a] potential buyer.”
He wrote on X, ““James Gunn originally aimed for [Superman: Legacy] to be simply a superman story, and it still is BUT the inclusion of this already full DC world backdrop seems to have been pushed by Zaslav.”
“Abdul added, “This film is zaslav’s way of ‘showcasing’ the DC world to [a] potential buyer,” he continued. This last sentence will ring some bells for our readers who may recall a sale of DC was predicted years ago.
Syl Abdul claims David Zaslav pushed for the inclusion of more DC characters in Superman: Legacy via Twitter
In a follow-up video Abdul detailed, “James Gunn, to his credit, was trying to do I don’t want to say a simple Superman story, but it wasn’t going to be a DC filled world to the extent that we’re going to get. This was Zaslav’s call to put in more DC characters.”
“James Gunn, his approach was always going to try to go the Bruce Timm route, Justice League Unlimited, that’s what I was told because of just all the wide range of characters,” he added.
He went on to add, “They put out that whole slate for you, as far as DC Studios, to try to give you something to look forward to, but really it’s about…”
Later in the video he added that Superman: Legacy and the Bat family film, The Brave and the Bold, that is expected to be helmed by The Flash director Andy Muschietti are the company’s “two shots to showcase DC Studios likely for Universal before the sale.”
Superman in All-Star Superman #1 (2006), DC Comics
Abdul would also react to the recent report from Variety sharing, “More buzz regarding the eventual SALE OF WBD Timetable still the same, as I have been reporting, they will attempt to showcase the DC ‘soft rebooted’ brand for potential buyers.”
More buzz regarding the eventual SALE OF WBD
Timetable still the same, as I have been reporting, they will attempt to showcase the DC ‘soft rebooted’ brand for potential buyers pic.twitter.com/wyCquYjjoM
— SyL ☕#IYKYK (@sylabdul) October 10, 2023
A previous rumor from scooper WDW Pro in February also claimed that James Gunn’s DC Universe slate announcement at the end of January was bait for a potential buyer.
He claimed, “Warner Bros. Discovery with both DC and Harry Potter is to soft reboot the franchises in order to make them seem more viable and healthy. However, rebooting them with projects that are highly interconnected and/or episodic in chronological consistency is not desired at this time.”
“The reason might surprise,” he asserts. “Warner Bros. Discovery allegedly expects to be purchased within the next three to five years. Therefore it is not in Warner Bros. Discovery’s interest to craft huge franchise worlds like seen in the MCU because such a thing would make a potential buyer beholden to this new roadmap/story narrative.”
He explained, “Instead, Warner Bros. Discovery allegedly feels the more lucrative option is to rejuvenate the franchises with non-connected properties while still unloading bad inventory so that when a company like Apple or Amazon when they purchase them potentially they get the benefits of a refreshed franchise plus the ability to craft their new cinematic universe in whatever way they choose,” WDW Pro explains.”
Batman rides once more in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Vol. 1 #1 “The Dark Knight Returns” (1986), DC Comics. Words and art by Frank Miller.
He later stated, “On top of that having James Gunn sitting on top of DC is seen as a lure for those companies to offer more. Apple, or Amazon, or Universal would get a reinvigorated franchise with a mostly clean slate and a proven superhero director ready to rock.”
“Furthermore, Gunn may have been brought into the fold with this as the plan all along,” he relayed. “Have fun with scrappy, passion projects in the short term then go crazy with huge movies once an Apple or Amazon budget comes spraying cash everywhere.”
He then notes, “According to these sources of Warner Bros. Discovery, the later projects in this recent phase one reveal of DC may not even happen and that might be okay as part of the bigger picture.”
Director James Gunn attends the Seoul Fan Event for Marvel Studios’ GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 in Seoul, South Korea on April 19, 2023. Photo by Ho Chang.
Interestingly, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Zaslav said in September 2022 that Warner Bros. Discovery was not for sale during a company-wide town hall. Zaslav told his employees, “We are not for sale, absolutely, not for sale.”
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav via CNBC Make It
What do you make of this new report that Warner Bros. might be sold to Universal or its parent company Comcast within the next two years or so?
**Editor’s Note: This article was updated to also include the previous rumor from WDW Pro.**
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