More bad news for HBOmax/DC

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HBO Max Cancels Another DC Superhero Movie (Report)

Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly canceled another superhero movie in the DC Universe.

thedirect.com

But we're still getting The Flash movie despite issues (and possibly a sequel The Flash 2: Warner Bros. Now Developing Sequel to Ezra Miller Movie ) and the reviews for Black Adam aren't great, calling it a mess among other things

 

[Ixal]

HBO Max is purposefully driven into the ground anyway.

Not sure about how I feel about the Zatanna movie. Imo it would have required some heavy reinventing as the stereotypical top hat wearing magician is seriously outdated.

 

[Blue]

HBO Max is purposefully driven into the ground anyway.

I haven't been following that sort of thing, can you give me some details about this? I thought that streaming services for reoccurring subscription income was all the push nowadays.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I haven't been following that sort of thing, can you give me some details about this? I thought that streaming services for reoccurring subscription income was all the push nowadays.

It's .... complicated.

When HBO Max debuted, it was owned by AT&T. And in that milieu, there were two things that made it really awesome-

1. AT&T was willing to shovel money into it.

2. Wall Street cared more about growth in subscribers than it did about, um, "making money."

Combine those two things and you had a brief amazing period at HBO Max (and the WB studio). We also saw other streamers paying insane amounts to generate content. Content is king after all, and all of them want to be Netflix and Disney+, not Peacock.

However, the spinoff of WB/HBO did a few things which are coming into focus-

A. You no longer had a giant, somewhat disinterested, telecom company as the deep pockets.

B. The mechanics of the transition to Discovery/HBO saddled the new entity with pretty massive debt.

C. The Discovery people took over.

What we are seeing is David Zaslav (head of WB Discovery) is doing what he does best from the Discovery side- cutting costs. This has taken many forms. First is the use of certain tax breaks that are only available after this type of merger, and that require writing off assets (this is the "Batgirl" fiasco). Next is the "disappearing" of shows- shows that HBO has the right to stream are just disappearing, because those shows have residual rights and they have to pay the talent to continue to maintain them on the service. After that is the re-thinking of profitability; in essence, they are de-valuing the streaming and owning the rights to content and placing a premium on showing movies in theaters with a restricted window and shopping programs to other streamers instead of keeping them in-house. Finally, they are trying to boost the use of lower-cost shows over programming that has higher costs (Discovery-type reality programming instead of HBO dramatic shows).

Now, in my opinion, this could have very deleterious effects in the long term as streaming shakes out. If, however, this is a ploy to get the balance sheet looking good before it is sold ... well, maybe it makes sense?

But if you're a fan of quality HBO programming ... or a fan of the great DC programming they have been doing on HBO Max, this really sucks. A lot.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

It's nearly like Discovery merged with HBO with the intent to destroy it.

 

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It's .... complicated.

nice summary

 

[Blue]

Thanks @Snarf Zagyg , that really is a great wealth of information.

shakes fist at them in Young Justice

 

[Stalker0]

A lot of this may also be a natural problem with the streaming model.

Early on, streaming is amazing. You effectively dust off your old content, add in a few new items…and your just making money.

However now that streaming has aged a bit, people have started to burn through that old content, and it’s not enough to keep that around. Further, more competition makes people more Selective.

Now you need half a dozen massive budget productions to hold on to your audience, and the finance math becomes more questionable.

What could be the future of streaming is actually the bargain basement service. Very low cost, almost no new content. You’ll always have a set User base that will pay that fee month after month and cost wise it’s dirt cheap to run.

 

[Rabulias]

Just when I thought my opinion of the current corporate leadership of Warner/Discovery could not get any lower...

Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO announce plans for ‘Game of Thrones’ NFTs

The box comes with one “Hero” avatar or a rare “Legendary Hero,” nine resource cards that can be used to build a realm, and three story cards, which feature scenes, characters and locations from the TV series. The legendary heroes are The Night King, Wun Wun and Mance Rayder. “Game of Thrones”...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Ryujin]

Now Westworld is done too.

HBO Cancels ‘Westworld’ in Shock Decision

The acclaimed sci-fi drama is considered finished after its recent fourth season, despite creators hoping for a fifth season to wrap things up.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

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or do we?

We finally have an idea of what kind of stuff David Zaslav wants Warner Bros. Discovery to make.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was candid during the company’s Q3 earnings call about why shows are disappearing.

www.theverge.com

 

[Ryujin]

or do we?

We finally have an idea of what kind of stuff David Zaslav wants Warner Bros. Discovery to make.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was candid during the company’s Q3 earnings call about why shows are disappearing.

www.theverge.com

So now I guess we know that what he says is vastly different from what actually is, I guess.

 

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So now I guess we know that what he says is vastly different from what actually is, I guess.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Defends Batgirl Cancellation, HBO Max Cuts

Warner Bros. Discovery's CEO tried to defend Batgirl's cancellation. Amid numerous cuts to HBO Max [...]

comicbook.com

"Let me be clear," Zaslav claimed. "We did not get rid of any show that was helping us." Naturally, that isn't going to play very well with the people who really cared about the shows in question.

 

[Rabulias]

"Let me be clear," Zaslav claimed. "We did not get rid of any show that was helping us." Naturally, that isn't going to play very well with the people who really cared about the shows in question.

Yes, but it has always been true that a show can be well-made and have millions of fans, and still cost its producers more to make than they gain back. And I have been one of those disappointed fans too many times to count.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

What we are seeing is David Zaslav (head of WB Discovery) is doing what he does best from the Discovery side- cutting costs.

Really nice summary!

It's really weird to watch HBOMax so aggressively pivot towards becoming irrelevant, while doubling down on the DC movies side. It just feels like grandpa coming out of retirement and insisting people go back to using faxes for communication.

I'd understand it more if they were just selling WB for parts, but then they wouldn't also be greenlighting Flash 2, of all things...

 

[Ryujin]

Yes, but it has always been true that a show can be well-made and have millions of fans, and still cost its producers more to make than they gain back. And I have been one of those disappointed fans too many times to count.

Seen individually, that's true. Seen from the point of view of an entire streaming service those tentpole productions bring in viewers, who may well stick around for other content.

 

[Umbran]

Seen individually, that's true. Seen from the point of view of an entire streaming service those tentpole productions bring in viewers, who may well stick around for other content.

A thing to note: unlike with broadcast, or even cable TV, the streaming systems know if those tentpole production viewers also watch other content. They know if you are playing the "turn off subscription, wait for a stack of things you want to watch, turn on subscription for a one month binge, turn it off again" games.

This is not to say they are going to make good decisions with that information, but they do have it.

 

[Rabulias]

Seen individually, that's true. Seen from the point of view of an entire streaming service those tentpole productions bring in viewers, who may well stick around for other content.

I assume that consideration is factored in to the "helping us" criteria. And Zaslov could well be wrong in his assessment of this. It is hard to measure how much major productions keep viewers beyond their runs.

 

[Ryujin]

Yes, they do have it but a typical "bean counter" may well ignore such data, and only concentrate on raw costs. If you completely strip mine a service, then you're going to lose viewers. Which type this guy is will all come out in the wash, as they say.

 

[Blue]

A thing to note: unlike with broadcast, or even cable TV, the streaming systems know if those tentpole production viewers also watch other content. They know if you are playing the "turn off subscription, wait for a stack of things you want to watch, turn on subscription for a one month binge, turn it off again" games.

This is not to say they are going to make good decisions with that information, but they do have it.

Not challenging but curious - what makes you think cable TV hasn't been gathering and using this information for decades as well? They know what channels we watch when, and for those with DVRs they know what we record to watch. I can't see this as something new at all.