(Photo by Amy T. Zielinski/Getty Images)
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And the cuts keep comin’ in Hollywood, this time, again, at Warner Bros. Discovery, which is shaving 10% of its motion picture group staff despite a string of recent hit films including The Minecraft Movie, Sinners and Superman, as the unit positions itself as a “fully global structure.”
Motion Picture Group co-chairs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca circulated a staff memo Wednesday outlining the basis for the cuts, which effectively unify what had been a Hollywood studio tradition, running separate domestic and international operations, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
“Earlier this year, in collaboration with leaders across the film division, we undertook a thoughtful assessment of our current structure and began the work to transform our business as we transition from a US Home Office/International model toward a fully global structure,” the memo reads.
Unifying production, marketing and distribution units should reduce some duplication of basic operations. The motion picture group has something less than about 1,000 employees. The cuts also continues to position Warner operations for a future focused more internationally and with new distribution capabilities. In streaming, for instance, the recently re-renamed HBO Max continues to expand worldwide, debuting recently in its 90th country..
De Luca and Abdy, long-time Hollywood executives who’ve worked separately and together at several other studios before coming to WBD, had faced increasing pressure last year after a string of underperforming releases. That all changed with A Minecraft Movie, starring Jason Mamoa and Jack Black, that has generated $955 million worldwide since hitting theaters in April, according to Boxofficemojo.com.
Original horror film Sinners, with Michael B. Jackson in a dual role, was another big hit, generating $366 million. The latest take on one of Warner’s most treasured franchises, Superman, has collected $510 million globally since its July 9 debut, though it was overseen and produced by DC Studios co-leaders James Gunn and Peter Safran. Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) also directed and co-wrote this Superman.
Warner’s film distribution unit also recently handled F1: The Movie, in concert with Apple’s streaming organization, Apple TV. That racing film, directed by Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski and starring Brad Pitt, has grossed $512 million worldwide in about a month of release.
The cuts come amid big changes with the parent organization. WBD has reorganized into two units that will split into separate companies later this year.
This week, the company announced the Streaming and Studios division will be named Warner Bros. after the spinoff. It will be headed by WBD CEO David Zaslav and feature the film and TV studios and libraries, DC Studios, videogame unit, HBO and streaming service HBO Max.
Global Networks will be renamed Discovery Global, and headed by WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels. Its portfolio will include the rest of WBD’s declining but cash-generating U.S. cable holdings, which include CNN and TNT, as well as Bleacher Report, European free-to-air networks, the former Discovery networks and Discovery Plus streaming service. Discovery Global also will be yoked with billions in restructured Warner debt, and a 20% stake in Warner Bros. that it is supposed to sell within a year of the split, for tax purposes.
The latest cuts come after so many other reductions at Warner media operations over the past several years, beginning with AT&T’s acquisition of the studio before the pandemic and the closure or sale of many smaller operations such as anime subscription service CrunchyRoll to Sony. Discovery’s 2022 leveraged buyout of a majority share of AT&T’s holdings subsequently necessitated far more cuts by Zaslav and Wiedenfels to service a staggering $53 billion debt load. Now the merger is being undone, again.
Warner’s many restructurings, sales and staff cuts aren’t the only ones in Hollywood, however, as the business undergoes a brutal shift away from lucrative cable and broadcast business models to a complex and less financially lucrative streaming future.
Comcast has already spun off most of its cable networks and some digital properties into a stand-alone company named Versant. It has kept streaming service Peacock, but in quarterly earnings reported this week, said Peacock subscribers stayed roughly flat at 41 million, while quarterly losses had declined to a still-notable $101 million.
Elsewhere, last week’s controversial, long-in-coming FCC approval means Skydance Entertainment can proceed with its $8 billion merger with Paramount Global when the deal closes next week.
Skydance CEO David Ellison has promised a massive $2 billion in cuts, leading to the departure already of many Paramount executives, including this week’s exit by Paramount Chief Licensing Officer Dan Cohen, preceded by co-CEO Chris McCarthy and CFO Naveen Chopra (now CFO of Roblox) among others.
