There was a really depressing article in Friday's Wall Street Journal about how Warner Brothers- in part based on the success of the last two Batman films- is going to make fewer, more expensive films, and are going to mine DC Comics for characters. Warner Brothers currently produces 25 t 26 films per year, and will cut back to 20 to 22 films a year- with as many as eight "tent pole" films to be based on DC Comic characters.Oy.
Is this short sighted? Warners recently closed its two art house labels- Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse. Evidently the films produced by the these entities: Goodnight and Good Luck, Before Sunset, In the Valley of Elah, La Vie en Rose, The Notorious Betty Page, Pan's Labyrinth didn't fit the new Warner's model. Maybe if Edith Piaf and Edward R. Morrow had been comic book characters things would be different.
Read the article and weep.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121936107614461929.html?mod=2_1168_1
PeterH
This just sounds like a return to the mid 80's strategy at Warners under Daly and Semel. It gave way to their more diverse output in the late 90s and beyond. I think part of that strategy was due to the advent of DVD and Warner's major role in its founding. They maybe felt like they needed more product to fill the pipeline.
ReplyDeleteWhile we'll never see a return to the levels of output seen in the studio days, I think that once they have a few mega-budget flops (which they assuredly will) they'll go back to doing smaller films too, tail between their legs.
It's ebb and flow.
This can't be good. I guess it means the studios aren't making alot of money on their independent releases. I have nothing against comic book movies. In fact, I'm a huge fan of them. But we need the other stuff to keep sane. If we see the other studios following suit, then it could be trouble.
ReplyDeleteJessel
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