It may feel like we’ve seen a lot of DC, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter on our screens over the past few decades, but the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO thinks otherwise. David Zaslav says he thinks they’ve been underusing these franchises.
Per The Wrap, he said at a recent conference: "One of the other real strengths of Warner Bros. is we talk about the great IP that Warner Bros. owns. But, for us, the challenge is that our content, our great IP – Harry Potter, DC, Lord of the Rings – that content has been underused."
He then continued, "When you put those franchises in, it’s the best performing studio in the world. We need to deploy our best capital, and we need to do it with the best creative people in the world."
We’ve got to be honest, it’s an unexpected take from Zaslav on all fronts. There have been a huge number of DC movies that have been released over the past few years. Meanwhile, despite him saying Harry Potter hasn’t been used in a decade, there have been several Fantastic Beasts prequels during that time.
Then there’s the Lord of the Rings elephant in the room. Yes, Amazon Studios has released a huge prequel series in The Rings of Power, but it seems Zaslav is disregarding this as it doesn’t fall under the WBD umbrella.
Admittedly, it does seem change is somewhat afoot at studio with more plans for these franchises in the pipeline. We know there’s a Harry Potter TV show and a Lord of the Rings animated movie. Then there’s James Gunn’s and Peter Safran’s DCU Chapter One plans, which feature Superman and Batman reboots.
Although, of course, this is all provided the studios reach a deal amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
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