Posted in: Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: movies, Warner Bros, warner bros discovery

Toby Emmerich Is Out In The Latest Warner Bros. Discovery Shake-Up

The fallout from the Warner Bros. and Discovery merger continues to emerge. With the merger coming after the massive failure of AT&T's acquisition of Warner Bros., significant changes by the new buyer are to be expected. There have been a couple of big names getting moved around and many projects getting canceled and readjusted in the wake of the merger. When it comes to DC, a project based on the Wonder Twins was announced, cast, and canceled within a couple of months due to post-merger complications.  Along with that, details of the movie studio side of the merger and its leadership are becoming apparent. One of the names on the outs because of this deal is Toby Emmerich, who has been running Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema since 2017.  He is now stepping away as an executive but is expected to get a production deal, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Sources also say that Warner Bros. Discovery has courted Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to run Warner and New Line as soon as Amazon releases them from their contract at MGM. That could reportedly happen as early as next month.

Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav's strategy as he shapes the company is to create three verticals, each with its own leadership: Warner Bros.-New Line (under De Luca and Abdy), DC and Animation. DC Films president Walter Hamada will report to De Luca and Abdy until new leadership is identified, and the head of the animation vertical is yet to be named.

If this strategy sounds a bit familiar to veterans of the movie space, it's because it is very similar to how Alan Horn ran Disney back in the day. Zaslav has reportedly reached out to Horn to serve as an advisor when it comes to reshaping how Warner Bros. Discovery will go about structuring the operations of their film division. Horn does not appear to want any formal arrangement to occur due to previous relationships he may have with other people involved with this restructuring, so if Horn is involved it will be in an unofficial capacity.

There are also reports that Zaslav "has asked Todd Phillips, the multihyphenate who created dark 2019 billion-dollar grosser Joker, to do more in the DC universe, potentially acting as an advisor though he will not serve in an executive capacity. A knowledgeable source says Phillips and Zaslav have discovered a rapport, though Phillips is not an expert on the broader DC universe." It sounds like Zaslav is looking for the DC version of Kevin Feige, but DC has never needed someone to guide all of these stories and keep them connected in any way. They need the steady hand of a leader to keep creatives working and focused and actually greenlight projects instead of letting DC projects waste away for years in pre-production hell. Zaslav is doing the smart businessman thing in that he is trying to copy the straight-A student's (Marvel/Disney) homework in the class. However, you don't become valedictorian by copying the homework of the smartest kid in class, and if that is all Zaslav has to offer right away? This could be another short merger for Warner Bros.

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