Last year, Warner Bros. had a host of releases with abysmal performances: Pan ($150 million budget, $128.4 million box office); Jupiter Ascending ($176 million budget, $184 million box office); In The Heart of the Sea ($100 million budget, $93.8 million box office). In fact, only two of the twenty-one releases from Warner Bros. reached $100 million domestically (The Wrap). To boot, despite Batman v Superman‘s record-breaking $166 million opening weekend, the film saw a ghastly 68.4% drop in sales for its second weekend. So, Kim Masters of The Hollywood Reporter wants to know: how will this impact the regime of CEO Kevin Tsujihara?
Although $697.6 million in the box office isn’t exactly a small gain, it is when put up against the nearly $300 million budget for the film. Masters quotes one agent remarking that Batman v Superman may not even make it to $1 billion, even though it features “two of the most iconic characters in history”.
Executives at Warner Bros. are stumped by BvS‘s shortcomings. Not only did they believe in the film as an financial investment, but they also thought that it was an example of quality cinema and were shocked when critics were quick to disagree. The fact that the studio has DC movies planned through 2020, all of them likely to be big budget pictures, has led to rumors that the studio will be making some strategic adjustments to prevent any more colossal box office flops.
“In an era of turmoil and transformation, even competitors aren’t eager to see a legacy studio like Warner Bros. struggle…Overall, sources say there is an understanding Warners is aiming to release fewer homegrown films than the industry-leading 21 it did in 2015” (Masters).
A Warner Bros. representative claims that Warner prides itself on having the most diverse slate in the movie-making industry, and the studio will continue to keep to this standard of innovative and inclusive film-making.
Despite all of this, Warner isn’t ready to give up quite yet, as it’s got several highly anticipated releases lined up this year, including Suicide Squad, Sully, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Nonetheless, analyst Steve Birenberg observes:
“Time Warner has some work ahead, and it would be helpful if the next movie in the DC relaunch were more widely praised.”
For more in-depth exploration on this issue, read Kim Masters article (linked above).
