Legendary officially breaks things off with Warner Bros., will now work with Sony instead
Hey, who needs Christopher Nolan and the studio that made Dune when you've got whatever's left on HBO Max?
Aux Features Sony
Warner Bros.’ decision to release its entire 2021 slate of movies on HBO Max on the same day they came out in theaters was arguably one of the best things to happen that year (the first COVID vaccines are a close second), but that might only be the case for regular people who really wanted to see, say, Mortal Kombat but weren’t necessarily willing to risk going out into the COVID-infested public just to see, say, Mortal Kombat. In fact, the deal was deeply frustrating to a lot of people in Hollywood with established relationships with Warner Bros., so much so that it drove Christopher Nolan—one of the only filmmakers with an actual blank check from WB—into the waiting arms of Universal. Now, after pretty much immediately expressing its frustration over the deal, Legendary Entertainment has also ditched Warner Bros. for a new distribution partner.
According to Variety, Legendary is now teaming up with Sony Picture to release its films, explaining in a press release that both it and Sony share an “ongoing commitment to theatrical distribution as a driver for other ‘downstream’ windows and the theatrical window’s long-term value for films.” So yeah, that statement might as well have just said “we’re mad about the HBO Max thing so we’re dumping Warner Bros. for Sony.”
In 2021, the Legendary movies that Warner Bros. put on HBO Max (after WB supposedly giving the studio 30 whole minutes of notice) included Godzilla Vs. Kong and Dune, which were two of Warner Bros.’ biggest hits that year—even with the streaming release. Interestingly, Variety says that this new Legendary/Sony deal does not impact “select existing projects” between Legendary and Warner Bros., including Dune: Part Two, but it seems somewhat unlikely that we’ll get many Dune sequels beyond that (to say nothing of the future of the Kong/Godzilla Monsterverse, which now seems a little shaky).
And now, with both Nolan and Legendary leaving Warner Bros., that’s two seemingly crucial relationships that have been completely burned for the sake of boosting a streaming service that the current leadership at what is now Warner Bros. Discovery couldn’t give less of a shit about. It’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face, except you also cut off your ears and also you’re planning on dumping the whole face eventually as a tax write-off.
20 Comments
I gather the contest is on to see whether Zazlav or Musk can destroy their companies faster. Very different strategies, but you have to admire their competitive spirit.
Is there any chance we can get them to kill each other in a steel cage match of some sort? Two men enter, no man leaves, that sort of thing.
I’d say “Celebrity Deathmatch” is due for a modern, live-action revival, at least in a one-off special for those two. I’d watch.
“I gather the contest is on to see whether Zazlav or Musk can destroy their companies faster.”
This has nothing to do with Zaslav, who has been on the job for mere months. This is entirely due to his predecessor. TRY to keep up.
This is one of the few things that weren’t Zaslav’s fault. It was the previous guy.
Zaslav and the previous guy are functioning like a one-two punch of ineptitude, the one burning WB’s reputation as the creator-friendly studio with his “suck it up, I can do what I want” attitude, and Zaslav with his hard pivot away from streaming and IP-driven content and toward more disposable reality programming. It’s the worst of both worlds – they conspired to trash both the high- and the low-culture parts of the operation.
including Dune: Part Two, but it seems somewhat unlikely that we’ll get many Dune sequels beyond thatThey have said they wanted a part 3 for Dune Messiah (which I believe got combined with Children of Dune in the SciFi channel miniseries). Florence Pugh’s casting seems unnecessary given the small role Irulan has in the first novel if you don’t count her writings preceding each chapter, which they already avoided in the first film.
IIRC, Irulan is only present for the last scene and has no spoken lines in the first novel. My guess is they expanded her role because a third movie was never guaranteed and otherwise they hired a very prominent actor for a non-speaking cameo, but not really as stunt casting.
Movie theaters suck
Your writing has the legibility and comedic value of a Babylon Bee headline.
“It’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face”.
I had completely forgotten about Mortal Kombat. That was disappointing. Is the sequel happening? Will we get the tourney?
Seems like it is still moving forward but no idea why. Because yea, the first movie was god awful and it’s hard to imagine many people showing up for a 2nd. And I say this as a MK fan who made time to watch that movie the first night it came out.
Hey i liked it. I also had completely forgotten it exists.
“Hey, who needs Christopher Nolan and the studio that made Dune”Dune is still at WB, stupid.
I get studios and filmmakers being mad about the straight to streaming release, but I don’t really mind it. I go to the theater a LOT less than pre covid and covid killed off my favorite time to go see a movie in the theater. I HATE a packed theater, I always have, so my go to was first IMAX showing day after release, but alas that early morning slot is no longer there.
I get that the producers/etc. were angry about the loss of theater revenue due to the simultaneous (or near-) streaming release, but uh what the fuck did they expect at the height of the pandemic? The alternative was to a) release the movies in theaters where they’d likely hugely tank, or b) keep them in the can for much longer. I don’t think anyone should extrapolate the fact that Top Gun stayed in the can for two years and then making a ton of money to all the rest of these movies.
What they expected were two things: 1) adjustments to their contracts, given that the previous contracts were drawn up on the assumption that ticket sales would contribute to their earnings; and 2) professional courtesy in the form of a heads-up and maybe a consultation before all this was a fait accompli. We can argue about whether they deserve the former, but the fact that HBO/WB didn’t deliver on the latter is without doubt an unforced error. There was no reason for that, and it seems to speak to an attitude inside the business that creative types are easily replaced so need not be treated with respect.
That makes sense.
“It seems to speak to an attitude inside the business that creative types are easily replaced so need not be treated with respect.”And THAT is a major red flag. WB has, dating back to the 30’s when they were more known for gangster flicks but more prevalently in the 60’s and 70’s when television was eating into box office profits, had a reputation for developing and nurturing long term relationships with iconoclastic talent. Think Eastwood, Kubrick, Boorman, Friedkin, etc.Throwing that away because you’ve swallowed the franchise model kool aid is the studio equivalent of Brexit.