Warner Bros. Discovery Has Axed $825 Million Worth Of Content Since The Merger
Details of Warner Bros. Discovery's regulatory filing have been made public this weekend, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, they confirm what many suspected: the company has taken a hefty write-down in the months since the merger, meaning recent cancellations have been helping the company to even out its books.
Apparently, Warner Bros. Discovery has written down $825 million during its second quarter, which covers much of the time since Warner Bros. and Discovery officially merged this spring. That figure includes "content impairments" for projects that were already in production, and development write-offs for titles that were in early stages. It's worth noting that these figures likely don't include the much-discussed cancellation of already-in-progress projects like "Batgirl" and "Scoob! Holiday Haunt" this past week, as those will be reflected in future reports.
Here's where the write-downs came from
The timespan for the $825 million write-downs likely does include a number of major changes made during and after the merger that garnered slightly less attention than the DC project's unceremonious cancellation. In April the company ended CNN+, a streaming service it had launched just weeks earlier. In May, it scrapped "The Wonder Twins," a live-action movie reboot of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon that was set to star Isabel May and KJ Apa.
Plus, the company has all but gutted the programming slates for TBS and TNT, ending the run of every live-action scripted original on the networks aside from "Miracle Workers." In a precursor to the "Batgirl" news, the company even pulled the season 2 premiere of Nasim Pedrad's "Chad" from the lineup the day it was supposed to air. All in all, it's been a ruthless few months in the TV business, culminating in this week's "Batgirl" news and reports of HBO and HBO Max shows quietly disappearing from the company's streaming app.
This influx of surprising news had all eyes on Thursday's Q2 earnings phone call, where Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav talked about uniting HBO and Discovery titles in one streaming service, focusing on theatrical release films, and the company's plans to cut costs. An earnings report shared that same day revealed that the company lost a stunning $3.4 billion in the first quarter post-merger, making the $825 million write-downs a drop in the bucket of the company's overall finances.
While WBD re-asserted its investment in HBO and HBO Max original content during the Q2 call, pop culture fans and industry professionals alike will be keeping a close eye on the moves Warner Bros. Discovery makes now that we know it's not afraid to ax projects during any point in their production in order to save some money.