‘Batgirl’: Warner Bros. would save about $ 20 million with the cancellation of the film

Hours after the call to Warner Bros. Discovery investors, we continue to analyze the data released by David Zaslav’s company which would give us a clearer context on the latest and controversial decisions they have made. The company’s chief executive reported losses of $ 3.41 billion in the first quarter following the merger of companies, of which 2 billion would correspond to depreciation, one billion to restructuring expenses and over 900 million to expenses for the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery. Even though they had $ 9.8 billion in revenue last quarter, they still have a lot to recover given the debt they carry from WarnerMedia, which is estimated at $ 53 billion.

That’s why Zaslav defended drastic measures, like the cancellation of “Batgirl”, to “correct the course” of brands like the DC universe. As we have already explained, the main reason for canceling ‘Batgirl’ despite having invested several tens of millions in the shoot would be to be able to deduct it as a grant due to a bad decision of the previous board. With this move, Deadline brings him back Warner Bros. Discovery would save between $ 15 and $ 20 million. An important tweak that would bring him a little closer to the goal of cutting 9 billion dollars of debt as soon as possible.

They have a long way to go, but Zaslav said during the investor phone call that they are sure so “on the right path to achieve strategic goals and be successful, both creatively and financially” and concluded: “I couldn’t be more excited about our company’s future”. Who was not so enthusiastic was the bag. Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery fell 12% after the earnings report, mainly due to not having met the revenue targets and that the number of streaming subscribers grew less than expected. Heavy debt doesn’t help either.

How do they intend to redirect the company?

Among the main measures they will take to redirect the company, David Zaslav has announced it Discovery + and HBO Max will merge into a single streaming platform that will begin launching in the summer of 2023, highlighting its commitment to the big screen and revealing a ten-year plan for the DC franchise., emulating the Marvel model. Although he assured that he will increase spending on original content for HBO Max and HBO (the cable channel), he stressed that he doesn’t see the point of spending money on making movies just for streaming and has also made significant cuts to children’s content and animation.