Warner Bros. at 100: Big Bets on Film Talent are Part of WB Pictures’ DNA

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has learned that Warner Bros Discovery CEO and President, David Zaslav, will be teeing off Warner Bros studio presentation at CinemaCon on Tuesday AM, April 25.

Tom Hanks has expertly re-invented himself over the years, moving from rom-com star (Big) to war hero (Saving Private Ryan) to character actor (Elvis), and as a writer-director with That Thing You Do! and Larry Crowne. His newest chapter: novelist.

Exhibition cries for a supply of films at the box office, but a flood of titles means nothing if there isn’t any marketing money put behind it. Last weekend there were five wide releases going up against Illumination/Universal’s beast Super Mario Bros Movie. Did it even make a difference? Was a proper amount spent to get audiences in seats? Or did the studios cut their losses and only pony up so much to promote them?

EXCLUSIVE: Following an intense multi-studio bidding war that went into the weekend, Warner Bros. has landed the package Maude v Maude that has Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry attached to star. Roseanne Liang is on board to direct from Scott Mosier’s script. Berry and Jolie will produce along with Berry’s producing partner Holly Jeter, producing through their banner HalleHolly, along with Jeff Kirschenbaum and Joe Roth who will produce through RK Films. Mosier and Liang will exec produce.

EXCLUSIVE: Harry Gamsu is heading back to Warner Bros. Discovery.

Ahmad Jamal, the pianist and band leader who helped pioneer the influential style that would come to be called cool jazz, died Sunday of prostate cancer at his home in Ashley Falls, Mass. He was 92.

Clint Eastwood is getting back in the director’s chair.

Angelique Jackson Legendary actor and filmmaker Clint Eastwood is closing in on his next project, with plans to direct “Juror No. 2.” The legal drama is set up at Warner Bros., with Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette circling the lead roles. Eastwood will direct and produce the project alongside Adam Goodman, Tim Moore and Jessica Meier. Jonathan Abrams penned the script. “Juror No. 2” will take place during a murder trial and follows a juror (Hoult), who realizes that he may have caused the victim’s death. He must decide whether to manipulate the jury to save himself, or reveal the truth and turn himself in. Collette would play the prosecutor. Warner Bros. is nearing a green light on the project, with a production start eyed for June, following Eastwood’s 93rd birthday on May 31.

EXCLUSIVE: Even at 92 years old, Clint Eastwood isn’t ready to slow down as he has set the thriller Juror #2 as his next film with Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette in negotiations to star. While it isn’t official sources also add that with schedules and budget figured Warner Bros., Eastwood’s long-time home, is coming close to officially green-lighting the film. Jonathan Abrams penned the script.

“The Big Bang Theory” is approved for additional funding.

Coming back for another round! A second spinoff series inspired by The Big Bang Theory is officially being developed at Warner Bros. Television.

Chris Pratt had another box office success this weekend with the release of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." Box office estimates released Sunday showed the Universal Pictures film grossed $146 million domestically across more than 4,300 theaters.

according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo. The film, which The Post called “lousy,” opened on Wednesday, ahead of the holiday weekend.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large In the 1950s, the motion picture industry wanted nothing to do with the young medium of television — but Jack Warner soon realized that was a losing battle. Warner Bros. was among the first to dive into TV production, when ABC approached the studio about acquiring a theatrical film package. But instead of just running films on TV, the result was “Warner Bros. Presents,” an umbrella series that debuted in 1955 and comprised programs based on existing intellectual property including “Casablanca” and “Cheyenne.” The success of “Cheyenne” ush- ered the era of the Western to televi- sion, as Warner Bros. (initially under Warner’s son-in-law, William T. Orr) brought a movie studio approach to the small screen. “There’s a spirit of independence and innovation that’s so much a part of the legacy of the studio,” says Warner Bros. TV chairman Channing Dungey. Other early Warner Bros. TV hits included “Maverick” and crime dramas such as “Hawaiian Eye” and “77 Sunset Strip.” That legacy continued with “The F.B.I.” and in the 1970s, sitcoms like “Alice” and “Wel- come Back, Kotter,” the Lynda Car- ter-led genre hit “Wonder Woman,” actioner “The Dukes of Hazzard” and the landmark miniseries “Roots.”

Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer The modern superhero movie would not exist without the version of Superman limned by Christopher Reeve in Warner Bros.’ 1978 smash “Superman.” First created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster for Action Comics, the Man of Steel became a pop-culture mainstay with the syn- dicated “Adventures of Superman” TV series in the 1950s. But it wasn’t until DC Comics moved into the world of Warner Bros. and Reeve donned the last son of Krypton’s blue-and-red tights for the Richard Donner-directed “Superman” that bringing a comic book superhero to life on the big screen was seen as blockbuster business. And the spoils were considerable: In the moment, “Superman” ranked as WB’s highest-grossing movie ever.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor It was 1941. Though World War II was already under way, film production was in full swing at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. Humphrey Bogart was getting ready to shoot “The Maltese Falcon,” while the next year, “Casablanca” would film on Warners soundstages and at the nearby Van Nuys airport, subbing for Morocco. Bette Davis was making “Now Voyager” on the lot after location visits to Lake Arrowhead and Laguna Beach. At the Warner Bros. Café, the studio’s commissary on the Burbank lot, James Cagney and Rita Hayworth lunched with director Raoul Walsh, while actor and future president Ronald Reagan dined with Olivia de Havilland — just a few of the major stars and filmmakers who could be seen taking a break from the hard work of filming.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor David Zaslav went office-furniture shopping when he moved into the executive building on the Warner Bros. lot last year. The new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery had Jack L. Warner’s large dark-wood desk pulled out of storage for his use. He also found a leather legal pad holder once clutched by another of his predecessors at the storied studio: Steven J. Ross. Zaslav wanted these totems in his sunken workspace overlooking Olive Avenue in Burbank to show the formidable legacy, in business and in popular culture, he has inherited. “I wanted them to remind me that we need to show as much courage now in leading this business as the Warner brothers did in launching it one hundred years ago,” Zaslav says. As the studio marks the centen- nial of its incorporation as Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. (the official date is April 4, 1923), the company has never been more focused on using the wealth of intellectual property assets, the production expertise and the global distribution muscle built up over the past 100 years to power its second century. The vast Warner Bros. movie and TV library is the foundation of WB Discovery’s empire-building ambition to transition from traditional cable to direct-to-consumer streaming.

Todd Gilchrist editor At Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch panel, held March 31 at the Sun Valley Film Festival, the first order of business was defining what it means to be a producer, a title — and a role — that encapsulates a number of responsibilities on a film. “The way that I describe it is you’ve got to know a little bit about a lot of things in filmmaking,” said Rachael Fung, whose film “Fremont” later won best narrative film in the festival’s One in a Million category, recognizing features made for less than $1 million. “You’ve got to be able to understand and talk to every single person that touches the film at every single stage. And also it’s about finding those directors and filmmakers and understanding their vision and figuring out the best way to get that to screen.”

reported that insiders at Warner said the studio hadn’t ruled out more theatrical films and HBO Max projects for the “Harry Potter” universe, even as the “Fantastic Beasts” films came to a close.“‘Fantastic Beasts’ was always meant to be one piece of a larger plan to build the Wizarding World,” Warner Bros. domestic distribution head Jeff Goldstein told TheWrap at the time.

J. Kim Murphy Warner Bros. Discovery is looking to close a deal to produce a “Harry Potter” television series. According to Bloomberg, which was first to report news of recent talks surrounding the project, the project would be directly based on J.K. Rowling’s best-selling book series, rather than an in-universe spinoff such as the “Fantastic Beasts” film series. Each season would reportedly draw from one of the books, suggesting an ongoing franchise that would stretch for years for the studio. Sources close to the situation suggest that talks between Warner Bros. Discovery and Rowling’s camp remain in a preliminary state. The studio is looking to house the series under its streaming banner HBO Max, soon to be combined with Discovery+ and rebranded under a new name.