David Zaslav Outlines Major Warner Bros. Film Overhaul, Addresses Toby Emmerich Exit

Even though it isn’t on the Warner Bros release calendar until June 23, 2023, The Flash is becoming Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s first movie crisis, because of the escalating coverage of incidents of volatile and odd behavior involving the film’s star, Ezra Miller.

general restructuring under CEO David Zaslav, which stems from the completion of the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger.Henson’s post was executive vice president, head of unscripted programming for TBS, TNT and truTV. In the role, she oversaw and spearheaded unscripted creative development and production for all three cable brands.

EXCLUSIVE: The Big D, a dating competition hosted by The Bachelorette alums JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rogers, has been axed at TBS weeks ahead of its premiere.

Warner Bros Discovery, two months after closing its $43 billion merger, has taken the first step toward reducing its global workforce, initiating voluntary buyouts in its U.S. advertising sales division.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaIt’s that time of year again. That post-July 4th period when media barons and billionaires break out the Brooks Brothers casual and don their sweater vests to hit an idyllic Idaho resort town of Sun Valley for another edition of “lets make a deal.”Many of the names expected to rub elbows next month are familiar ones. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Liberty Media’s John Malone, Comcast chairman Brian Roberts, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple pasha Tim Cook and Berkshire Hathaway guru Warren Buffett are among those who have once again made the cut for Allen & Co.’s annual media conference.

Warner Bros. Discovery has named Luis Silberwasser chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery Sports.

Warner Bros. Discovery has named Luis Silberwasser, a former exec at Discovery, Telemundo and most recently TelevisaUnivision, as chairman and CEO of its sports division.

Blackwood’s departure was an expected step in the ongoing leadership shift at the studio under Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who is installing his own leaders and organizational structure.

Following the departure of Toby Emmerich as Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Boss, his fellow associate, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group COO Carolyn Blackwood is leaving. This is all ahead of Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy coming in to run the motion picture group under Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterVeteran Warner Bros. executive and film division chief operating officer Carolyn Blackwood is parting ways with the studio, sources told Variety.Her resignation follows a week after word that her boss Toby Emmerich, chairman of the motion picture group, will transition to lot producer later this year. The regime changes come as Warner Bros.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorBefore finalizing Discovery’s purchase of WarnerMedia from AT&T, David Zaslav spent months holding friendly conversations with Hollywood moguls and influential agents. Now he’s locked in contentious discussions with Madison Avenue.Warner Bros. Discovery is making what media buyers and other executives say are  severe demands on advertisers in the course of discussions around the industry’s annual “upfront” market, when TV networks try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory.

This has been building since before Toby Emmerich exited and Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy took the reins at Warner Bros. Joaquin Phoenix hasn’t quite signed a deal to reprise his role as the disturbed murderous anarchist Arthur Fleck in a sequel to the billion dollar grossing "Joker," but the film is a go.  Director Todd Phillips revealed on Instagram that there’s a "Joker" sequel script he just wrote with Scott Silver and that Phoenix, who won an Oscar for playing the title role, is reading it.That isn’t quite true; Phoenix read it awhile ago, and it has come down to making a rich deal for him to star in the genre-jumping sequel.

This has been building since before Toby Emmerich exited and Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy took the reins at Warner Bros. Joaquin Phoenix hasn’t quite signed a deal to reprise his role as the disturbed murderous anarchist Arthur Fleck in a sequel to the billion dollar grossing Joker,. but the film is a go. Director Todd Phillips revealed on Instagram that there’s a Joker sequel script he just wrote with Scott Silver and that Joaquin Phoenix, who won an Oscar for playing the title role, is reading it. That isn’t quite true; Phoenix read it awhile ago, and it has come down to making a rich deal for him to star in the genre-jumping sequel.

Toby Emmerich had a meal with Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy at the Polo Lounge, a hub of deal-making and power lunches, in a move that was clearly designed to send a signal of solidarity to Hollywood. The bread-breaking, which went down as show business players like producer Donald De Line and CAA agent Joel Lubin dined nearby, came just a day after Emmerich announced that he will step down as head of Warner Bros.’ film studio. De Luca, who worked with Emmerich back in the day at New Line, and Abdy will soon join the company, though in a reduced role; they will oversee Warner Bros.

Toby Emmerich’s exit as chairman of the Warner Bros. Pictures group, and the ascension of former MGM film leaders Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, are just the latest instances of upheaval in what is already shaping up to be a tempestuous new era at the studio behind Harry Potter and Batman.Emmerich’s ouster has been gossiped about for years, dating back well before the company was sold to Discovery. Still, his decision to leave for a production deal stunned executives on the studio’s Burbank lot, many of whom had worked with Emmerich for decades.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav on Wednesday dropped his memo to staff about Toby Emmerich stepping down as Chairman of the Motion Picture Group and the three new studio divisions being put in place. It’s a slightly similar structure to the way Disney handles its franchise brands, with the hope that DC will have its own Kevin Feige maestro to exploit IP across all mediums.

Below is Toby Emmerich’s departure note to staff at Warners:

announced they would exit their roles as Motion Picture Group chairman and president this summer after Amazon completed its $8.5 billion acquisition of the storied studio. The move is a homecoming for DeLuca, who joined Warner’s New Line Cinema as an intern at age 19 and rose to president of production.

Toby Emmerich is out as the head of Warner Bros. motion picture studio. Replacing him are Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who recently exited the helm of MGM. This had been rumored since before they exited that studio (they’ll stay into the summer until their contracts expire). This is part of Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s grand plan to split Warner Bros into multiple labels, with Warner Bros proper/New Line, DC Entertainment and Animation.

The audience at the Cannes Film Festival was trembling for Austin Butler as the King in Baz Luhrmann’s world premiere of "Elvis." The film received an uproarious 12-minute standing ovation, the longest of this year’s festival so far. As the cheers went on and on, a teary-eyed Butler hugged an equally-emotional Priscilla Presley, who flew to the South of France to give her blessing for the movie about her late husband. The Warner Bros.