It has been a bad year for DC and Warner Bros.
What should have been a great year that fully kicked off the DC Extended Universe began with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice under-performing at the box office and getting destroyed by critics and fans, which was then followed up with Suicide Squad also getting bad reviews (not to mention very public reshoots). Although many fans have praised their performance at San Diego Comic Con – which revealed first looks at Wonder Woman and Justice League – the future may not get any brighter for the studio.
In a very passionate open letter to Warner Bros. president Kevin Tsujihara, a former Warner Bros. employee talks about how staff at the studio have been fired while others are rewarded for their failures.
“Zack Snyder is not delivering,” Gracie Law, who worked for Warner Bros. in 2014 writes. “Is he being punished? Assistants who were doing fantastic work certainly were. People in finance and in marketing and in IT. They had no say in a movie called Batman V Superman only having 8 minutes of Batman fighting Superman in it, that ends because their moms have the same name. Snyder is a producer on every DC movie. He is still directing Justice League. He is being rewarded with more opportunity to get more people laid off.”
It’s an incredible letter that details the poor few years Warner Bros. have had, but there’s a key point to note at the end of the letter.
“I wish to God you were forced to live out of a car until you made a #1 movie of the year,” Law adds. “Maybe Wonder Woman wouldn’t be such a mess. Don’t try to hide behind the great trailer. People inside are already confirming it’s another mess. It is almost impressive how you keep rewarding the same producers and executives for making the same mistakes, over and over.”
Now, we’ve filled this as a rumour as there is no verification that the writer of the letter actually worked for Warner Bros. or has indeed spoke with “insiders”.
UPDATE: Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has taken to Twitter to outright deny the rumours:
Woah, just saw this press about WW having problems. Are they serious? This is some made up bs right here. Made up! Produce a source, anyone.
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) August 12, 2016
You can’t because it’s entirely false. Don’t believe the hype people. Someone’s trying to spread some serious misinfo.
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) August 12, 2016
Isn’t until you are intimately involved in these things that you realize how totally false these rumors can. Let me reassure you…
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) August 12, 2016
Zero about the movie we are making has been called a mess by anyone in the know. Fact.
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) August 12, 2016
Real lasso of truth, time, will reveal that letter to be false soon enough. But lame something so transparent in its agenda gets traction.
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) August 12, 2016
“Gal Gadot returns as the title character in the epic action adventure from director Patty Jenkins. Before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when an American pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers…and her true destiny.”
Wonder Woman will hit cinemas on June 2nd, 2017 with a cast that includes Gal Gadot (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), Chris Pine (Star Trek), Connie Nielsen (Gladiator), Robin Wright (House of Cards), Danny Huston (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), David Thewlis (The Theory of Everything), Ewen Bremner (Snowpiercer), Said Taghmaoui (American Hustle), Elena Anaya (The Skin I Live In), Lisa Loven Kongsli (Force Majeure) and Lucy Davis (Shaun of the Dead).
Originally published August 13, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
