Update: WB/New Line - What Does it Mean?
You’ve heard the rumors, and it now looks to be true. This afternoon Time Warner has announced that New Line Cinema will become part of Warner Bros. This is the expected result of the companies string of recent box office failures, topped with the mega failure of The Golden Compass. Read the letter from Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne which is currently circulating the interwebs, followed by the official Time Warner press release:
February 28, 2008
To: New Line Colleagues
From: Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne
Subject: Our Company
This afternoon, Time Warner is announcing that New Line will become a unit of Warner Bros. This is, of course, a very difficult and emotional time for all of us who have worked at New Line. While there is not much we can say that can lessen the impact of this announcement, we did want you to know about the decision before you read about it in the press.
New Line will maintain its own identity and will continue to produce, market, and distribute movies. But New Line will now do so as part of Warner Bros. and will probably be a much smaller operation than in the past. Time Warner hopes that operating New Line as a unit of Warner Bros. will allow New Line to focus on the creative side of movie-making, while reducing costs and taking advantage of Warner Bros.’ distribution systems. The company will be holding group meeting with New Line employees tomorrow in Los Angeles and New York to discuss this announcement, and is committed to letting employees know as soon as possible about how this change affects them individually.
For our part, we will be stepping down as Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOS of New Line. This was a painful decision, because we love New Line and the people who work here have been like our second families. But we will be leaving the company with enormous pride in what all of us at New Line have accomplished together. From its humble beginnings 40 years ago, our studio has created some of the most popular and successful movies of all time. Those movies are a tribute to the amazing creative energy and entrepreneurial abilities of the talented people at New Line. They are a legacy that will endure forever.
Although we are stepping out of New Line, we intend to remain actively involved in the industry in an entrepreneurial capacity, and will keep you advised of developments.
We thank all of you who have worked so hard to make New Line such a success. We are very proud of every one of you.
Bob & Michael
——
TIME WARNER CONSOLIDATES FILMED ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESSES
New Line Cinema To Be A Unit Of Warner Bros. Entertainment
NEW YORK, February 28, 2008 – Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) announced today the consolidation of its filmed entertainment businesses, Warner Bros. Entertainment and New Line Cinema. The combination brings together New Line’s 40-year legacy as the world’s most successful and innovative independent film studio with Warner Bros.’ creative leadership and unparalleled scale and reach in global distribution and marketing.
As part of the consolidation, New Line will be operated as a unit of Warner Bros. New Line will maintain separate development, production, marketing, distribution and business affairs operations, but will closely integrate and coordinate those functions with Warner Bros. to maximize film performance and operating efficiencies, achieve significant cost savings, and improve margins.
In making the announcement, Time Warner’s President and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bewkes said: “We are moving quickly to improve our business performance and financial returns. New Line has built a strong franchise of cutting-edge entertainment. We can enhance its value by combining it with Warner Bros. Given the trend toward fewer movie releases, New Line and Warner Bros. will now have more complementary release slates, with New Line focusing on genres that have been its strength. With the growing importance of international revenues, it makes sense for New Line to retain its international film rights and to exploit them through Warner Bros.’ global distribution infrastructure. We can also take better advantage of digital distribution platforms by combining our studios. These changes will enhance our revenue opportunities and drive dramatic cost efficiencies and higher margins at New Line.”
New Line’s Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne have elected to leave the studio, but are in discussions about possible future business relationships with the company.
Mr. Bewkes said: “Bob and Michael have a unique partnership that is noteworthy not only for its stability and longevity, but for its record of innovation and success. They have guided New Line’s growth from a privately held art film distributor to the world’s leading independent film studio that is home to some of the most popular films in entertainment history, including The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Mask, Austin Powers, Blade, Rush Hour, Elf, Wedding Crashers and Hairspray. We thank Bob and Michael for their enduring contributions to Time Warner and look forward to a continuing working relationship with them.”
Mr. Shaye and Mr. Lynne said: “New Line has been our respective life’s work as well as our second family. While we’re sad to be leaving, we’re enormously proud to have overseen its extraordinary growth and worked with so many dedicated and talented colleagues. New Line represents innovation, creativity, and independent success. We hope that the company can continue to be a leader in creating entertainment that resonates around the world. We will now focus our efforts on exploring new entrepreneurial opportunities.”
February 28th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Crazy
February 28th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Oh no! Who is going to own the beloved Nightmare on Elm Street Series???
February 28th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
who cares.
Whatever franchises NL had will all go to WB. So that makes WB the studio with most powerful franchises.
LOTR and everything now belongs to wb.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Golden Compass a mega bomb!?
Production Budget: 180 million
Worldwide Gross so far: 330 million
Yeah, that’s definitely a mega bomb.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I think that we all knew this was coming, but it is really sad/odd to see this announcement on the eve of Semi-Pro being released. New Line is about to have a big release weekend… I would have thought that this would have been made public at a later date.
Curious…
February 28th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Freddy Kruger would beat the shit out of those fairy hobbits….Remember hobbits dream too.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
New Line gave up all their International & Overseas rights to compass so made no money back on any International Boxoffice, only would have made money domestic:
Domestic Golden Compass Boxoffice: $69,990,336
International G. Compass Boxoffice : $260,954,708
February 28th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Dylan: New Line sold off the foreign territories before the release, and basically only made money off the domestic box office gross of $69 million.Analyists predict that Compass cost the studip over $250+ million after P&A. Movie theaters pocket about 50% of that $69 million, thus leaving New Line with about $35-$40 million, which is more than $150 million in the hole for one film.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Oh, and Dylan: The Golden Compass wasn’t that good of a movie… For the record. It was just ok… Certainly not deserving of that Oscar.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
WHAT ??!!?
THA HELL ?
NOOOOOOOOOOO
( thats quickly becoming my trade mark here)
there were one of the only studios that took some risks
remember dark city ?
well its the death of originality
February 28th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
‘Whatever franchises NL had will all go to WB. So that makes WB the studio with most powerful franchises.
LOTR and everything now belongs to wb.”
No, That would be Star Wars…..
February 28th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Golden Compass made $350 MILLION and is still making money in DVD sales. That’s not a “failure” by anybody’s definition. Very easy to scapegoat a movie that underperformed, but let’s not exaggerate.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Oh, and, Neil, whatever you think, it doesn’t matter, cuz you can’t take it away.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
JJ: You obviously didn’t read the comment I posted above. New Line lost over $150 million on The Golden Compass.Reprinted from above:
“New Line sold off the foreign territories before the release, and basically only made money off the domestic box office gross of $69 million.Analyists predict that Compass cost the studip over $250+ million after P&A. Movie theaters pocket about 50% of that $69 million, thus leaving New Line with about $35-$40 million, which is more than $150 million in the hole for one film.”
February 28th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I can’t take what away, bullethead? The Golden Compass… Didn’t the little girl get it at the end? I’m not trying to take it away. She can keep it…
February 28th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
on the oscar, yeah I really couldn’t believe when Compass got the award over transformers. I’ve seen more realistic polar bears in coca-cola commercials. Why the academy would pander to a film which was largely panned by critics and audiences alike is beyond me.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
The Golden Compass deserved the fx oscar, it was amazing
February 28th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
not when compared to giant robots kicking each others asses in downtown LA. Sorry, but seeing another Harry Potter/Lotr “world of ripoff wonder” was just lame.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
golden compass did not deserve the fx oscar over transformers. as for new line, you cant feel sorry for people who continuously market and produce bad scripts. seems that common sense would say, ‘this is a shitty story’, but apperently not. gotta focus on the script, script, script!!!
February 28th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I supported them by downloading Golden Compass. oh wait… nevermind
February 28th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Well, you got to remember guys its the award for the most outstanding vfx not done by ILM.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I thought this would happen. I’m glad WB picked them up, but they def have had some duds. Once the news broke that Peter Jackson was suing them, I knew they didn’t have a chance to survive. They were lucky to get him in the first place.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:22 am
Does this mean we’ll finally get a Freddy vs Batman movie?
February 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am
The Golden Compass had issues with a conservative Christian majority in this country, afraid of its free thinking and strong female character and its atheist author.
New Line did not fall because of the Golden Compass. If you’re going to state it like it is a fact, you better do some research first.
New Line is in trouble for Lord of the Rings. It was sued by both Peter Jackson and the Tolkien family for not paying what it owed them.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Semi Pro is gonna be their last major movie production as a single company
February 29th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
what?!,that sucks they were my favorite studio,and Mortal Kombat was one of the many movies that made New Line my favorite studio:( (cries into a flood of tears).
March 1st, 2008 at 5:03 am
That certainly comes to me as a huge surprise. New Line Cinema taken over by Warner Bros was never possibility that I thought could be realised. Well, I guess the movie industry is about to become like the software industry soon.
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:56 pm
it´s sad…
New Line Cinema, a classic
cult
March 12th, 2008 at 11:30 am
ill shit on warner brothers they are full of batties NL for the win
May 8th, 2008 at 9:36 am
I DO NOT HAVE ANY COMMENTS AGAINST WARNER BROS. TAKING OVER NEW LINE. MY ONLY CONCERNS ARE THOSE MOVIES IN PRODUCTION SUCH AS THE CAPT, MARVEL (SHAZAM) PROJECT. I MAINTAIN THEY SHOULD CONSIDER BRANDON MOLALE FOR THE TITLE ROLE.