Now that the Warner Bros. Discovery merger is taking hold, there are very clear and public proclamations that DC’s film division will be re-organized, and they are raising the question of what the future holds for DC Films head Walter Hamada.
Variety recently noted the new Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav is ”toying with the idea of turning DC into its own solidified content vertical.” In other words, they want it to run more like Marvel’s proven model of success.
That means, of course, they want a figure like Kevin Feige to be in charge of the new “DC Studios” entity and they supposedly don’t believe Hamada is up to the task – meaning he will be out of the picture.
This information originates from a scoop by Mikey Sutton over at Geekosity who has an inside source at Warner he trusts and has been following the ups and downs at DC/Warner for a while.
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He and his site saw this development coming last year. “Zaslav is already looking into how to improve the DC Films by restructuring it similar to Marvel Studios,” wrote staff writer Edwin Francisco at the time.
“To clarify: structurally, not stylistically. Basically, DC Films might have a central figure to be in charge of their movie and TV properties,” he added. “This will be their version of Kevin Feige at Marvel Studios.”
Sutton himself dovetails this info in his more recent piece with the claim “Variety‘s article confirms” his scoops by stating “Zaslav vetted candidates with experience in creating and nurturing blockbuster intellectual property with a goal of potentially finding someone to serve as a creative and strategic czar similar to what Marvel has in Kevin Feige.”
Reading between the lines, it sounds like Hamada isn’t one of those candidates and an “insider” revealed to Sutton that this is the case.
“Hamada won’t stick around, one way or another. There was gossip of Zaslav either removing DC Films or transforming it into DC Studios,” the insider relayed on April 6th. “That would consolidate everything in the DC banner. Hamada isn’t expected to continue with either decision.”
That said, it’s added Hamada’s ouster won’t be immediate as Zaslav and the whole operation are still in transition. As such, the “bloodbath” as it is dubbed will creep and drip slowly, waiting for Hamada to “pass the baton” personally.
What a way to make him sweat it out.