There was a time when Warner Bros. was a power house at the box office, but a disappointing 2015 has brought out reports that the studio is looking to change their tactics for the next few years.
Last year, the studio’s biggest movie was San Andreas starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson which made $155 million domestic and $473 million globally, enough to get a sequel green-lit. However, films like Jupiter Ascending and Pan meant that Warner Bros. had a pretty lousy year – especially when compared to Universal who had Furious 7 and Jurassic World and Disney who had Avengers: Age of Ultron, Inside Out and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. They did distribute 21 ‘original’ titles – more than any other studio – but none of them gained any financial traction. And 2016 hasn’t gotten off to the best year with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice falling below box office expectations, and experts are saying it won’t get any better with The Legend of Tarzan.
The Hollywood Reporter is now saying that Warner Bros. are looking to green-light fewer original pitches to put their focus on established franchises like DC, Harry Potter and LEGO. The studio announced two new DC movies last night, and there are currently sequel plans for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them which hits cinemas later this year. They also have several LEGO movies in the pipeline spinning off from 2014’s The LEGO Movie, kicking off next year with The LEGO Batman Movie.
Warner Bros. are still committed to their ‘family’ of directors, which includes Christopher Nolan, Ben Affleck and Clint Eastwood, who all have movies coming out for the studio very soon. But these will likely be seen as the exception rather than the rule.
Originally published April 7, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
