Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: David Zaslav, dc comics, discovery, Warner Bros
DC To Get A Complete Overhaul Before Sell Off
There were groundless rumours ahead of this. But we knew the Great Eye Of Sauron would be turning towards DC Comics soon. Now Variety has reported that "the new owners of all things Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are exploring an overhaul of DC Entertainment". And that David Zaslav, the CEO of the combined Warner Bros. Discovery is looking at "turning DC into its own solidified content vertical".
What does this mean? Is this a new phrase for DC's vertical webtoon comics? Probably not. But right now Warners has made or licensed DC TV shows for other companies, rather than keeping it all in the Warners/DC/CW/HBO house. Lucifer ended up at Fox and Netflix. Pennyworth is on MGM's Epix. And as we mentioned, DC Comics has done deals with Webtoon and Tapas for their digital vertical comics creation and publication. "Solidified content vertical" would bring that all back in-house. See how Marvel has done similar with Disney+.
They also suggest appointing a new creative and strategic czar at DC in the manner of Kevin Feige. Someone "who had the type of business background needed to keep all the different factions at DC working more harmoniously." I guess Dan DiDio will have to stick to publishing Frank Miller then.
Indeed Zaslav reportedly sees the entire success of Warner Bros. Discovery as reliant on how the DC Universe is managed, looking for $3 billion worth of revenue from the synergy of the intellectual property created by its comics, that Warners owns entirely, and use them in movies, TV and games. And that Discovery "believes that several top-shelf characters such as Superman have been left to languish and need to be revitalized" with movies like Joker seen as ways to deal with secondary characters. We are to expect more movie spinoffs like Peacemaker, The Penguin and GCPD. You know, Zaslav ever wants to reach out, I have plenty of ideas… and not a single one has "Bat" in the title. Tom Strong is just sitting there and my DMs are open, Zaslav.