Written By Kieran Bugg and Mikey Sutton • Editor-in-Chief • Owner
David Zaslav emphasized his plans to potentially sell DC IPs to certain parties. Amidst the highly popular #SellZSJLtoNetflix campaign, the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO lit up the disillusioned hearts of SnyderVerse fans. Is it now possible for WBD to license Zack Snyder’s Justice League 2 to Netflix?
It’s been an interesting few years over at Warner Bros. with the constant regime shifts and the company’s recent acquisition. Everyone’s hoping there’s a bright future ahead for the rebranded Warner Bros. Discovery. However, some of CEO David Zaslav have been more than questionable. Especially when it comes to DC.
Most notably his restructuring of DC Films, which has also been renamed as DC Studios. Specifically, David Zaslav also appointed director James Gunn and producer Peter Safran as co-leaders for the franchise’s future. Gunn had no previous experience as a studio executive. In addition, his one DC movie, 2021’s The Suicide Squad, bombed at the box office.
Gunn would later reveal his plans for a soft reboot which would turn the DCEU into the DCU. This was a huge blow to fans of director Zack Snyder’s DCEU. They had hoped WBD would restore his vision. Instead, Gunn went the opposite direction. He stopped Henry Cavill’s announced comeback as Superman; moreover, he’ll replace Ben Affleck’s Batman with a younger actor.
David Zaslav Offers Glimmer Of Hope For Zack Snyder’s Justice League 2
Image: HBO Max
Nevertheless, those hopes haven’t faded completely just yet. Recently the Q4 earnings call for Warner Bros. Discovery made its way online. It was reported that studio has lost around $2.1 billion but gained over 96 million new subscribers on HBO Max.
In addition, David Zaslav made optimistic comments about the company’s path forward. He stated:
“With the major restructuring decisions behind us, this year we are focused on building and growing our businesses for the future, and we’re off to a great start. We’re seeing strong momentum across the enterprise, including our exciting long-term plans for DC Studios, the historic success of our latest HBO series The Last of Us, the significant financial and operating gains in DTC, and the record sales of our newest game Hogwarts Legacy. And with our unparalleled portfolio of assets and IP, a growing roster of exceptional creative talent, and some of the buzziest storytelling in the industry, we believe we have repositioned our businesses to take full advantage of the many opportunities ahead.”
Furthermore, Zaslav also mentioned that he plans to fully utilize the various IPs that the studio owns. We’ve already begun to see this with the recent announcement of new movies based on The Lord of the Rings. This goes along with the current distribution deal with Amazon for The Rings Of Power prequel series.
Zaslav hopes to make this a unified strategy for the company, meaning other properties like DC will follow suit.
In other words, WBD is planning on selling off more of their IPs, including DC, to third parties. Zaslav revealed:
“And so we want to optimize that as a unified strategy for the company. And we take that across film, TV and even to sell to third parties, because we have something, we have a treasury that no one else has. And for us, DC alone will be — could and should be a game changer. And I think there was a lot left on the table. We got to take those swings. We got some of the best creatives in the industry right now focused on those swings.”
Third parties as in Netflix. Warner Bros. Discovery just sold off another DC property, Dead Boy Detectives, to Netflix. The live-action series will join another Neil Gaiman DC creation, The Sandman, on the streamer. The language The Hollywood Reporter used to describe the deal raised eyebrows in the #SellZSJLtoNetflix movement. Per THR:
“The move of Dead Boy Detectives illustrates the importance of continuing to sell shows to third-party buyers for the Channing Dungey-led Warner Bros. TV studio as being an arms dealer remains a top priority for WBD.”
Sell.
The #SellZSJLtoNetflix campaign is rooted in one question: Is it possible? David Zaslav’s own words and his company’s actions deliver a ray of hope that a third party, Netflix, could restore the SnyderVerse. That’s where it begins: Is it possible?
Could Zack Snyder’s Justice League 2 happen on Netflix?
David Zaslav Offers Glimmer Of Hope For Zack Snyder’s Justice League 2
Image: HBO Max
After all, David Zaslav has opened the store doors. They’ve already sold DC projects to Netflix albeit on a smaller scale. But money talks.
And the noise is getting louder.