Chu by pointing out that the movie was still getting a “global theatrical release.” But industry insiders say the studio is pretending that pirates won’t pounce as soon as these films are streaming on HBO Max. “Toby probably had a really bad weekend, not that I feel bad for him,” says one agent.Īccording to a source, Emmerich tried to soothe In the Heights director Jon M. “As if anyone would believe he had any control over the situation,” says one producer with a major Warner property. “Toby’s passion is only about managing up,” says one agent who represents major Warners talent.īy the weekend following the announcement, Emmerich was calling important filmmakers with projects set for 2022 to assure them that their movies wouldn’t be dropped on the streaming service without warning. That’s why many are focusing their wrath on Emmerich. While Kilar pays what is seen as lip service to movies, industry veterans say Warners is sacrificing the huge profit that comes from selling movies in multiple formats and on multiple platforms around the world.Įven before Warners made its play, there was grumbling among agents that Sarnoff, who has been on the job for more than a year, had yet to get acquainted with key players on the film side or make much of an impression at all. But one prominent agent notes that the top executives at WarnerMedia and its parent - AT&T CEO John Stankey, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar and, of course, Sarnoff - “don’t understand the movie business, and they don’t understand talent relations.” Many in Hollywood think WarnerMedia opted for this drastic move to play to streaming-infatuated Wall Street and redo the botched launch of HBO Max, which has netted a dismal 8.6 million “activated” subscribers so far. “Now Warners isn’t the first place, second place or third place you want to go.” What damage will be done to exhibitors by training customers that if they sit on their sofas, the biggest movies will come? And will Warners face serious backlash from important producers, filmmakers, guilds and onscreen talent? “Warners was the quintessentially talent-friendly, filmmaker-friendly studio,” says one agent. The Warners move poses big, maybe even existential questions: How do theaters survive this supposedly onetime, excused-by-the-pandemic move? Genies are hard to put back in the bottle - and no one believes Warners intended this to be temporary, anyway. (The Writers Guild of America declined to comment.) They expect and hope that the guilds will get involved. Some talent reps say the decision affects not only profit participants but others who have worked on films as the move might affect residual payments. And that swooshing sound you hear? It’s the lawyers, stropping their blades as they prepare for battle: that Warners was self-dealing in shifting these movies to its own streamer, perhaps, or that the company acted in bad faith. “Never have this many people been this upset with one entity.” Like others, he had spent much of the day dealing with calls from stunned and angry clients. “Warners has made a grave mistake,” says one top talent agent. The instant response in Hollywood was outrage and a massive girding for battle. COO Carolyn Blackwood who, looking at a relatively weak 2021 slate, saw an opportunity to avoid the humiliation of potentially bad grosses while currying favor with streamer-obsessed higher-ups. Surprisingly to some in the industry, sources say the idea was the brainchild of Warner Bros. film studio chairman Toby Emmerich called the heads of the major agencies to drop a bombshell: Warners was about to smash the theatrical window, sweeping its entire 17-picture 2021 film slate onto its faltering HBO Max streaming service, debuting them on the same day they would open in whatever theaters could admit customers. On that now-infamous morning, Ann Sarnoff - whose ungainly title is chair and CEO of WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group - and Warner Bros. Behind the Brawl Over Streaming Revenue Sharing for Actors
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