• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Your opinion of Warner Bros.

Heimdall_Xtreme

Hermen Hulst Fanclub's #1 Member
In recent months, we have been very critical of Disney for its policies and the low quality of its products.

But it is also to know your opinion towards Warner Bros.

In my opinion, I have always considered Warner Bros as an envious and hypocrit company and that it always lives under the shadow of Disney... when it made its Tiny Toons or Animaniacs Animated series... it always aggressively criticized Disney with parodies, I consider due to envy that Disney productions always overshadowed Warner Bros even in its golden age.

The only notable thing that Warner Bros. has are the Harry Potter, Batman and Lord of the Rings movies, as well as Gremlins, but it would never become a Disney... Six Flags is an amusement park that is not Disney... it would never even have a part of what is Disneyland

In addition to forcibly including inclusion in its productions, I think it is worse than Disney... but what is your opinion of the company?

warner_bros-_pictures_intro.jpg
 
Last edited:

Chiggs

Gold Member
For filmmakers, Warner Bros was the gold standard prior to its acquisition by AT&T in 2018 (which it later sold off). Chris Nolan even famously said it himself in a now infamous "fuck you" tweet he sent about the studio's streaming plans.

“Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.”

Warner Bros has a seriously impressive back catalog, helped "support" influential filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, and their TV efforts were just as impactful (Friends and ER being just two examples).

Also, Disney was a fucking mess for most of the 1970s and 80s, being briefly reignited by Michael Eisner and Jeff Katzenberg in the early 1990s, before falling back into ruin thanks to Eisner's insecurity and arrogance. After Eisner was ousted, Bob Iger successfully pursued a number of aggressive M&A ventures, like Pixar, Lucasfilm, and Marvel, which helped it dominate in the 2010s. But things aren't so rosy right now, either...
 
Last edited:

Dice

Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
They have been slowly going to shit the past 10 years, only having the occasional quality thing, but then they got their new CEO who seems to actively want to destroy everything WB so that only Discovery is left. It's really sad to see because they have so many top tier IPs. As for "inclusivity" and "representation" I am not opposed to it and often don't even notice before reading some headline of people complaining, however something about the way they do it makes it feel completely unnatural, shoehorned in, purposeless to plot, mere pandering, making the product about what they are doing with that instead of being about its own story and themes. I can't imagine this completely cynical and corporate form of tokenism puppetry is what groups clamoring for inclusivity and representation want, so it's only working to please nobody.
 
Last edited:

Rockondevil

Member
They’ve lost their way in recent times.
They don’t see a plan through and just throw shit at the wall.

So many great IP’s under their belt that will just be squandered.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Like all of Hollywood, over time they've tried to peddle messages, hired a substantial amount of unskilled professionals to lead the company which has lead to poor decisions with lackluster, brain dead products and have started the process of slowly killing their company bit by bit.

Unlike Disney however, they've at least made a few risky moves and made actual movies instead of sending the message like Dune and joker etc. So there's at least someone there still holding on and making some decisions
 
Last edited:

gatti-man

Member
WB has had so many bombs it can’t even make that many movies now. I expect Blue Beetle to cause further fiscal pain. If Superman bombs then WB could be in serious trouble. They haven’t made a great movie in a decade.
 

Klosshufvud

Member
It strikes me as somewhat ironic that by denying Zack Snyder his DCEU closing films, the Snyderverse DCEU ended up sticking around way longer than what was originally planned. All due to the ambitions of quickly moving away from the DCEU, while simultaneously greedily attempting to keep its profitable aspects. They really tried to have their cake and eat it too and now DC films are on endless flopping streaks because fans now know better than to commit to their stories.
 

BlackTron

Member
A lot in common with MS, sitting on a mountain of IP but can't manage it at all, no unified vision, just keep spamming different attempts. Once in a while something cool creeps out, but it's not like it'll be part of a bigger saga or anything. You take it for what it is. Batman has a decent batting average but even then, you already know there will be a cycle where they pick the wrong actor to be Batman and there is a bad film or two, then it will swing around, it's such a part of the process it doesn't even phase you anymore.

When I was a kid I thought it was funny how they referenced and made fun of Disney. And I know Mickey and Donald are A+ movie stars but let's not act like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are chopped liver here.

It was totally cute how they decided to release Barbie on the same day as Oppenheimer.
 

BlackTron

Member
Looney tunes is an invaluable cultural artifact, still carrying the brand in my heart, but yeah recently…

Admittedly, cultural artifact is the right word. At its height, Bugs was almost as recognizable as Mickey, and I had Crazy Castle on GB and NES, but that was uh...a little ways back. I think it has the distinction of being the very first show I watched every day, so it defined the TV set for me. Sometimes Nick at Nite would begin and their first show would be an extra helping of Looney Tunes, allowing you to circumvent the rule that you have to go to bed when they're over.
 

BigStef71

Neo Member
I'll always appreciate that they released the Snyder Cut but the position they are in now is because they were too reactionary and didn't trust their filmmakers. Hopefully Gunn gets things back in order and they let him cook 🍳 🙏
 

Toons

Member
Like all of Hollywood, over time they've tried to peddle messages, hired a substantial amount of unskilled professionals to lead the company which has lead to poor decisions with lackluster, brain dead products and have started the process of slowly killing their company bit by bit.

Unlike Disney however, they've at least made a few risky moves and made actual movies instead of sending the message like Dune and joker etc. So there's at least someone there still holding on and making some decisions

Joker and Dune both are *extremely* saturated with a message lol.

Anyways.

WB boasts some of the most well regarded, lucrative IP in the history of entertainment media. They have access to the best writers and directors money can buy and enough clout in the game to be an industry unto itself.

So it's almost impressive how well they've managed to do almost everything wrong for the last decade. And sure, some masterpieces have slipped through the cracks. The Batman comes to mind, and I've heard good things about dune but still need to watch. But by and large.... wow. We can talk about the quality of output but Disney is having some of its worst years this era and to still be thrashing WB so handily that the notion of them selling stuff to the mouse almost seems feasible, is historical in its failure. The sheer scope of it is kind boggling.

It looks like Barbie is gonna be their big win this year, but it won't recoup the amount of money flash has lost.
 
Last edited:

Laieon

Member
I think a lot less of them now than I did a decade ago.

On the other hand, they greenlit Hogwarts Legacy and that's my 2nd favorite game of the year so... thanks WB.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Joker and Dune both are *extremely* saturated with a message lol.

Anyways.

WB boasts some of the most well regarded, lucrative IP in the history of entertainment media. They have access to the best writers and directors money can buy and enough clout in the game to be an industry unto itself.

So it's almost impressive how well they've managed to do almost everything wrong for the last decade. And sure, some masterpieces have slipped through the cracks. The Batman comes to mind, and I've heard good things about dune but still need to watch. But by and large.... wow. We can talk about the quality of output but Disney is having some of its worst years this era and to still be thrashing WB so handily that the notion of them selling stuff to the mouse almost seems feasible, is historical in its failure. The sheer scope of it is kind boggling.

It looks like Barbie is gonna be their big win this year, but it won't recoup the amount of money flash has lost.
Messages and "the message" aren't the same thing and you probably haven't seen Dune or joker if you think it's selling that message. 🤣
 

DeafTourette

Perpetually Offended
WB has had 2 different owners/bosses. AT&T were shit for brains... Broke trust with talent like Nolan (look how that turned out) and with audiences (the post-snyder DCEU and same day releases). Under Zaslav, it looks like they're doing a bit better... They should have shelved The Flash and Aquaman 2... Even though The Flash was HELLA enjoyable, it had that weight of Miller's shenanigans holding it down. I'm excited about Blue Beetle and unsure about Aquaman 2... but I'm looking forward to Gunn's DCU!
 

Ownage

Member
Options are fun. I'm glad WB exists. We should have other options as well.

Lesson here: media consolidation is rarely good for creativity.
 

Toons

Member
Messages and "the message" aren't the same thing and you probably haven't seen Dune or joker if you think it's selling that message. 🤣

Well, the post i responded too didn't say anything about "the" message.

It said "peddle messages" lol.
 

StueyDuck

Member
Well, the post i responded too didn't say anything about "the" message.

It said "peddle messages" lol.
I think it's safe to say in 2023 that it's mostly "the" message, people don't really complain about themes, considering all movies have them.
 
Top Bottom