Warner Bros. Restructures DC Comics into DC Entertainment

[GrnMarvl14]

Source.

If anyone questioned the relationship between Hollywood and comic books before, there's no doubt about it now.

On the heels of Disney acquiring Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion last week, now comes word Warner Bros. is taking firmer control over DC Comics, overseeing the publishing company under a new division that will report directly to Warner Pictures.

According to an announcement by DC today, Diane Nelson, the former president of Warner Premiere, will serve as President of "DC Entertainment," as the new division is called. Nelson will report to Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group.

“Based on the great success we’ve had working with DC Comics to create some of the most popular and successful super hero films of all time, I’ve long believed that there was much more we could do across all of Warner Bros.’ businesses with this great body of characters and stories,” said Robinov.

Current DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz will segue into a role as "Writer, Contributing Editor and Overall Consultant to DC Entertainment," according to DC. Levitz previously reported directly to Warner Bros. Chairman Alan Horn.

Levitz, who worked his way from writer to editor to publisher of the company since 2002, will be "called upon for his deep knowledge and more than three-decade history with DC Comics, both as a comic creator and an executive," the release by DC stated.

DC Entertainment was created "to maximize the potential of the DC brand," the release by DC said. Warner Bros. hopes to accomplish the same type of multi-platform marketing of DC's characters that it did of its Harry Potter franchise, a property that Nelson also oversees.

“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort,” said Nelson. “DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”

DC's characters include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Justice League, Green Lantern and The Flash. While a "Green Lantern" movie is set to begin filming this fall and the Batman franchise is waiting for director Christopher Nolan to complete other film commitments after his success with "The Dark Knight," film development of the other major DC characters has been criticized as slow in comparison to Marvel's aggressive film slate.

Other DC properties currently being developed include the TV show "Human Target" for a mid-season debut on Fox and "Lobo," a movie with director Guy Richie attached. The company also recently released the "Batman: Arkham Asylum" video game and the direct-to-DVD animation movie, "Green Lantern: First Flight," and produces the "Batman: Brave and the Bold" animated series for Cartoon Network.

...

Current DC properties in development and/or production at Warner Bros. Entertainment include:

– “Human Target” is being produced by Warner Bros. Television for a mid-season debut on Fox.

– “Midnight Mass” is in series development at Warner Bros. Television for consideration for the 2010-11 season.

– “Jonah Hex,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ supernatural Western starring Josh Brolin, Megan Fox and John Malkovich, recently wrapped production in Louisiana.

– “The Losers,” Dark Castle/Warner Bros. Pictures’ action-adventure drama starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Chris Evans, began principal photography mid-July in Puerto Rico.

– “The Green Lantern,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ next big superhero tentpole release, recently cast Ryan Reynolds as the titular character. The film has a projected second quarter 2011 release date.

– “Lobo,” based on the DC Comics anti-hero, has Guy Ritchie attached as a director; Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona are producing for Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.

– Warner Premiere’s direct-to-platform DVD animated release of “Green Lantern: First Flight” debuted July 28.

– Warner Bros. Animation currently produces “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” which airs on Cartoon Network.

– Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released “Batman: Arkham Asylum” on August 25, a dark, action packed videogame adventure for Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Games for Windows.

The full text of the official announcement (and, warning, it's LONG) is found in the link above.

But, basically, this is Warner Bros./DC hoping to get into a position where they can succeed as well as Marvel has in terms of increasing the awareness of their products. And, hopefully, will lead to more DC movies (and less sucky ones. No one wants the Batman movies to be the only really good ones).

This also appears to be just the latest salvo in the DC/Marvel war. Should be interesting to see where things go from here.

 

[Barb]

I really wish the Wonder Woman movie wasn't stalled in development hell somewhere in Hollywood.

 

[Luxio2k8]

I’m guessing that Time Warner is doing this because of the recent news of Disney buying Marvel. As long as we get more and better DC Movies then it should be good news.