Wanted: Someone to Lead the DC Universe at Warner Bros. Discovery

Ryan Lattanzio
·2 min read
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Who’s going to run DC? After initial reports indicated “The Lego Movie” producer Dan Lin was the top candidate to head the new David Zaslav-appointed DC world order at Warner Bros. Discovery, sources familiar with the situation confirmed to IndieWire that he is no longer in the running.

CNBC first reported that Lin and Warner Bros. Discovery ended negotiations without making a deal, but sources close to these conversations dispute that a deal was nearing any kind of finish line. Zaslav has been transparent in his desire to find someone in the Marvel Studios-Kevin Feige mold to lead its DC properties, but according to sources, Lin was never a top contender.

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This position is not designed to overstep the work of newly installed Warner Bros. Film division chiefs Michael de Luca and Pamela Abdy. Sources tell IndieWire that Warners’ DC filmmakers are happy with De Luca, a longtime comic fan, and Abdy at the studio.

Nor is the role meant to be a precise replacement of DC Films head Walter Hamada, who at one point was rumored to be leaving the studio following the cancellation of “Batgirl.” The new role would take on broader DC duties, not just film.

Upcoming DC projects include “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which starts filming in two months, plus “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” (December 25, 2023), “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” (March 17, 2023), and Ezra Miller in controversies-be-damned “The Flash” (June 23, 2023).

Lin currently serves as founder and CEO of Rideback, the production company behind the “Lego Movie” franchise among other tentpole titles across animation and live action.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been clear about his ambitions for a new DC role since announcing a DCU “reset” after scrapping “Batgirl.”

“We have done a reset. We’ve structured the business,” Zaslav said during WBD’s August earnings call. “There will be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together very effectively with Kevin Feige at Disney. We think we could build a long-term, much more sustainable growth business out of DC, and as part of that, we’re going to focus on quality. We’re not going to release any film before it’s ready.”

Since the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the company has had multiple rounds of layoffs, with shares down approximately 50 percent.

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