The news that The Lord of the Rings franchise was returning under the stewardship of Warner Bros. was greeted with a response ranging somewhere between a sigh of resignation and a shrug of apathy. If Peter Jackson couldn’t come close to replicating his own standards with The Hobbit trilogy, then what chance does anyone else have?
Unfortunately, that’s the way Hollywood works for better or worse, and David Zaslav has already made it clear that he might just be the most IP-hungry executive in the industry. Having already resurrected Middle-earth in spite of Prime Video’s billion-dollar investment in The Rings of Power, it’s only a matter of time before he announces plans for the Wizarding World in the wake of Fantastic Beasts petering out and imploding.
However, it’s the DCU that’s getting its fresh coat of paint first, with James Gunn and Peter Safran tasked to breathe life into a potentially all-conquering comic book universe that so far hasn’t lived up to the hype, expectation, or investment. Speaking during the company’s quarterly earnings call, Zaslav made it clear that he’s demanding the superhero sandbox – and Superman: Legacy – deliver on the potential.
“We’re laser focused on building this DC 10-year plan. James was writing [Superman: Legacy]. We were spending time with him and Peter, and he had a vision for for DC that we are all in on. He presented that to you and the press about a month ago. It’s one of the biggest value creation opportunities for us. I think it could and should be huge, because it wasn’t being pushed on.
We are a storytelling company. But we I believe we that we have an overwhelming advantage in the marketplace with the IP that we own, to take [and] get that advantage. We have to create great content with that IP. That’s storytelling IP. We haven’t done a Imovie in 10 years. We haven’t done new Harry Potter content in over a decade. And Lord of the Rings, which is a fantastic franchise… And you know, for us, DC alone could and should be a game changer. I think there was a lot left on the table. We got to take those swings. We got some of the best creatives in the industry right now focused on those swings.”
Money has always spoken loudest in the film business, but Zaslav’s pivot towards focusing almost all of WB’s energies on franchise fare could have a long-term effect should the studio suffer from a smattering of notable bombs that torpedo audience interest. The pressure is on for Gunn and Safran to deliver, something they’ll be fully aware of given the boss man’s lust for IP.