Warner Bros. Might End Up Repeating Amazing Spider-Man Mistake
David Zaslav's intention to focus on popular franchises could do more harm than good for Warner Bros. A big name franchise does not automatically mean big money.
The president and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Discovery is all about increasing the company's revenues.
As for what will replace those shows and movies on HBO Max, Zaslav said on the Q3 earnings call that the company will focus on the franchises that have "generated a lot of profits for Warner Bros. over the last 25 years."
Among the franchises he mentioned were Superman and other DC projects, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, Sex and the City, The Lord of the Rings ( the company has the rights LotR movies). While focusing on already popular franchises may seem sensible, not all fans support such plans.
To many, the idea of concentrating on big franchises seems like a money grab. After all, not all franchises turn a profit. Fans are worried that Warner Bros' new plan could see the studio follow in the footsteps of Sony, who made The Amazing Spider-Man, thinking the big name would sell itself, but made a huge mistake.
The Amazing Spider-Man became the lowest grossing entry in the Spider-Man franchise worldwide. Sony was forced to cancel The Amazing Spider-Man 3. Many viewers commented after seeing the films that they were nothing more than a cash grab.
"Speaking of corporations and products, that's exactly what these movies were. Products. Zero heart put into them. [The films] were only made to retain the movie rights. Then the sequel was only made to jump on the cinematic universe bandwagon trying to set up sequels and spinoffs that nobody wanted. They didn't get Peter or Spider-Man right at all outside of his costume in the sequel," one of Spider-Man fans explained.
Now fans are worried that Warner Bros, under the leadership of "a ruthless money guy" as they call Zaslav, will make the same mistake as Sony, assuming that a big name like Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings will bring in profits just because the canon is popular.
With a big name comes a big responsibility in the form of a huge fan base that loves a canon of books or original films and will not tolerate an inability to tell a story that lives up to the original.