(Ouch?) Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald in 2022’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. But no one, not even Zaslav, seems to care about Fantastic Beasts. WB is technically in the middle of a new Harry Potter franchise right now with the Fantastic Beasts series, which is being written and overseen by Rowling herself. Zaslav did not specify what, creatively, Rowling has to offer the Harry Potter series other than to say that the franchise is ripe for a continuation.Ĭuriously, the CEO also said to investors that the studio hasn’t “done a Harry Potter movie in 15 years.” That isn’t exactly true. But as it stands, it’s a potentially troubling statement, considering the once-beloved author’s consistent remarks that many have deemed transphobic. “Do something with J.K.” could mean that Zaslav wants to remove Rowling from the series’ theatrical future, or that WB simply has ambition to broker a new deal with the Harry Potter writer. on Harry Potter going forward, Lord of the Rings, what are we doing with Game of Thrones? What are we doing with a lot of the big franchises that we have? We’re focused on franchises. Batman, Superman, Aquaman, if we can do something with J.K. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, starts with franchises - and involves making a whole lot more of them.ĭuring that earnings call, Zaslav explained his plans for the company to prioritize its biggest franchises:įocus on the big movies that are loved, that are tentpoles, that people are going to leave early from dinner to go to see - and we have a lot of them. Any kind of cultural revival, according to Warner Bros.

From Discovery’s purchase of its parent company, WarnerMedia, to the budget cuts that followed, and the losses reported ahead of an earnings call on Thursday, the studio’s future looks fuzzy. Pictures are having an existential moment.

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