The gilet-sporting CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery had a very clear goal when the merger created the entertainment behemoth. Control costs, deliver profitability through strong IP.
Not all of that has gone according to plan.
According to a new report at Bloomberg, one particular project has drawn his ire over its failure. Joker: Folix A Deux.
The first entry made over a billion at the box office and awards adorned it at every turn. It was also cheap to make.
The sequel cost five times more, and made about five times less.
It did not go down well with Zaslav who apparently summoned Warner Bros. Pictures co-chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy to company headquarters in New York to explain themselves.
It was supposed to be one of their crown jewels, and something that De Luca and Abdy personally supervised since they joined.
It was a closed door meeting and Zaslav both “railed against the performance of the film” and also laid into the mounting costs on upcoming projects.
Challenges getting success out of DC and Harry Potter, with the Snyderverse ending with a whimper and the Fantastic Beasts series being dead on arrival, have been troubling shareholders.
The failure of what seemed like a sure-fire hit in a Joker sequel set alarms bells ringing.
All eyes will now be on the new DCU, and whatever happens on TV for Potter. If those numbers don’t add up, then the alarm bells will turn to klaxons and flashing red bulbs.
With Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 looking like it will struggle to make big profits, and analysts thinking Paul Thomas Anderson’s new project is too expensive given the niche appeal, there will be worried people in the accounting departments right now.