Discovery Merger To Spawn A New ‘DC Studios’

What is going on inside Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films after their recent merger with Discovery?

That’s a question that a lot of film fans are asking themselves, and DC Comics movie fans have been particularly interested in the future of DC Films after the merger.

Well, some of those questions might have been answered (or at least addressed) in Variety’s recent article.

According to the media outlet’s article, Discovery is now looking at overhauling DC Entertainment, and in particular, “all things Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.”

Discovery closed on its $43 billion deal for WarnerMedia and they are already looking at how they can improve things.

David Zaslav, who is now the CEO of the combined companies, and the company’s top leadership have been, “toying with the idea of turning DC into its own solidified content vertical,” according to Variety’s sources.

This means that Discovery is looking to bring all of DC’s movies and TV properties closer together and become more like how Marvel Studios operates.

So, could this mean that we’re about to see the birth of a new DC Studios, in which all projects are overseen and decided upon by a select group of individuals with one leader calling most of the shots – i.e. a Kevin Feige type.

What’s going to happen to DC Films after the Discovery merger?

Credit: Warner Bros Pictures

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It looks like Discovery is already looking at how it can get its DC Entertainment arm of the business to really go up against Marvel.

It is true that DC Entertainment has been incredibly disjointed over the years.

We’ve already seen a wide range of attempts to make movies that really go up against Marvel Studios’.

However, even though I would argue that DC Films has produced some of the best comics book movies we’ve seen in a while (films like The Batman, The Suicide Squad, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Joker and the first Wonder Woman movie), they are still lagging behind Marvel in most areas.

The key areas that DC Entertainment is struggling with are at the box office and the overall critical reception of their comic book movies.

Even though we’ve seen some great comic book movies come out of DC Films in recent years, we’ve also seen some real duds.

You can point at the likes of Wonder Woman 1984, Joss Whedon’s Justice League, 2016’s Suicide Squad and even to a certain extent, Birds Of Prey (although, I did like that movie).

These films failed to perform well with critics and some may say that the poor critical reception has been damaging the brand.

Will this spawn the birth of a ‘DC Studios’?

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Then, there’s the added fact that many of these DC Comics movies have been marred by controversies during production.

The most obvious example of on set controversies is everything that happened whilst they were filming Justice League.

Joss Whedon is persona non grata now in Hollywood because of it, but the whole ordeal has also left a stain on Warner Bros. Pictures and DC Films’ records.

All the business with what was going on behind the scenes at the very top has also been a huge issue for the company.

Then there are the issues that the studio’s been having with many of its leading stars such as Ezra Miller and Amber Heard.

The bottom line is that up to this point, it’s all been rather messy and Discovery wants to sort the mess out.

The question is, who will they bring in to helm this supposed ‘DC Studios’?

Will Feige look at this as an interesting opportunity? Or, will they stick with someone like Walter Hamada?

It’s going to be an interesting couple of months for DC Comics movie and TV fans.

What do you make of this news?

Are you looking forward to seeing what happens to DC Films after the Discovery merger?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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