Jesse Armstrong and Danny McBride will have some individual independence to celebrate this holiday weekend.
13.06.2023 - 20:17 / deadline.com
Warner Bros. Pictures Animation has hired Shane Prigmore to serve as Senior Creative Advisor for the newly relaunched film unit under President Bill Damaschke.
In addition to advising on creative development for WBPA’s ambitious production slate, Prigmore will also direct a film for the unit. He will be based at the studio’s HQ in Burbank, reporting directly to Damaschke.
A veteran of Skydance Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation, DreamWorks Animation, and LAIKA, the Annie Award winner returns to Warner Bros. more than two decades after the company gave him his start on the seminal animated classic The Iron Giant.
Prigmore’s announcement comes just as Damaschke has outlined his strategy for the newly relaunched features animation division to energize its legacy IP and develop partnerships with artists and creators worldwide to foster a slate of original storytelling resonant with global audiences of all ages.
“Shane is a trusted colleague and respected creator and executive in animation,” Damaschke said. “As we build a studio for and led by filmmakers, we are thrilled to welcome him home to WBPA to help lead us into this next chapter.”
“I’m thrilled and honored to be joining the talented team at Warner Bros Pictures Animation as we work to build and define the next, great chapter of this Studio’s creative future,” Prigmore said. “I am proud and especially fond of my past artistic collaborations with Bill, as well as my time at Warner Bros. at the start of my career. I could not be more excited to be collaborating with both once again.”
Prigmore is 28-year vet in animation as an animator, designer, storyteller and creative leader. At Skydance Animation, he served as SVP, Development, guiding the creation
Jesse Armstrong and Danny McBride will have some individual independence to celebrate this holiday weekend.
CNN is exploring ways to put more of its news offerings on Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, with a report that plans are in the works to offer live programming on the platform outside the U.S.
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor After spending months keeping CNN from expanding into streaming, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery appears to have changed its mind. Warner Bros. Discovery is exploring ways to get more CNN programing on to its Max streaming service, according to a person familiar with the matter, looking at the news outlet’s broader portfolio to see what content might work. Executives will have to navigate agreements with CNN’s traditional distributors that often require cable and satellite companies get first access to CNN’s live broadcasts. Yet CNN’s rivals have grappled with similar obstacles and found ways to repurpose the news and opinion shows they run. The Fox Nation streaming outlet runs Fox News Channel’s opinion programs a day later. Fox News in 2020 unveiled a new international service that puts its programs in countries such as Mexico and Spain. MSBNC in March of last year unveiled a plan to offer episodes of “Morning Joe,” “Deadline: White House,” “The Beat with Ari Melber,” “The ReidOut,” “All In with Chris Hayes” and MSNBC’s opinion programs on the Peacock streaming hub on-demand the day after they air on cable.
Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Top editors are rallying behind Poland’s independent media as it comes under increased scrutiny from the country’s right-wing, nationalist government. In a joint statement, the editors in chief of local outlets such as Fakt, Polityka and Gazeta Radomszczańska as well as international media such as Forbes and Canal+, have said they “declare our unwavering dedication to stand firm and defend the independence of Polish journalism.” “Newsrooms under our leadership will exhibit solidarity and resolutely inform the public about any attempts by the ruling party to exert influence over the media,” reads the statement.
News kept on churning this week — from Sunday morning until end of Friday — on the Warner Bros. Discovery front.
Variety, in wake of the exit of network head Pola Changnon this week. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav had been considering bringing in De Luca and Abdy for some time, insiders said, to rely on their cinephile instincts and shape the best possible programming slate for the channel — one beloved by Hollywood titans and film fans for its showcase of film history. TCM will still exist with the US Networks Group run by Kathleen Finch. While De Luca and Abdy will advise, a senior executive in charge of operations is expected to be named in the future. Warner Bros. Discovery had no comment on the matter.
layoffs of several other members of the network’s top brass amid cuts of 100 staffers across Warner Bros. Discovery’s U.S.
Amidst mounting concern for the future of Turner Classic Movies following the latest in restructuring at Warner Bros Discovery, CEO David Zaslav has looked to assuage fears by placing the channel under the control of Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy, the Co-Chairpersons and CEOs of Warner Bros Film Group, Deadline can confirm.
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Warner Bros. Discovery is negotiating to sell around half of the storied Warner studio’s film and TV music-publishing assets for approximately $500 million, three sources confirm to Variety. The news was first reported by Hits. While it is unclear exactly which assets are on the table, one source says that the rights to “slightly less than half” of the catalog, with a price of around $500 million, are likely to go to a major label, with Sony said to be in the lead. The catalog is believed to include music from such films as “Purple Rain,” “Evita,” “Sweeney Todd,” “Rent” several “Batman” films and many more titles, as well as songs included in iconic films such as “As Time Goes By” from “Casablanca” — iconic titles to be sure, but again, it is unclear exactly which rights are in play. Top attorney Allen Grubman is said to be overseeing the deal for Warner Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a CEO in the film and TV industry to have such an immediate impact as David Zaslav over at Warner Bros. Discovery.
Adam B. Vary Senior Entertainment Writer SPOILER ALERT: This story mentions a few significant plot developments in “The Flash,” currently playing in theaters. In the climax of “The Flash,” Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) watches helplessly as his timeline-hopping escapades cause several other superhero universes to careen into each other and become obliterated in the process. Ironically, Warner Bros. is facing almost an identical dilemma — and the stakes could be nearly as existential. “The Flash” is the second of four mega-budgeted DC adaptations the studio is set to release this year, starting with “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” in March, and followed by “Blue Beetle” and “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” in August and December. Yet these movies were conceived and greenlit by an executive team that all have departed the studio; in their place, new DC Studios chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran have announced they will reboot the DC franchise in 2025, starting with Gunn’s “Superman: Legacy.”
Pola Changnon, who runs Turner Classic Movies (TCM), is the latest executive to leave as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery shakeup.
Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Warner Bros. Discovery has begun implementing layoffs in its domestic cable group, cuts that will affect about 100 employees across legacy Discovery and Turner outlets. Amid the shuffle, TCM general manager Pola Changnon is leaving the classic movie channel after more than 25 years with TCM and Turner. Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Discovery Family and Boomerang, will oversee TCM, as he did prior to the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger in 2022. The plan for layoffs across Warner Bros. Discovery’s major divisions were signaled late last year when the company faced extreme financial pressure amid rising losses from its streaming operations and the weakening macroeconomy. WBD’s domestic cable channels — including Discovery, TNT, TBS, TLC, HGTV, Food Network and CNN — were once the envy of the industry in terms of viewership and profitability. But the fast-changing pay TV marketplace and the rise of on-demand streaming has upended the reliable cable TV earnings power that made the former Time Warner a dynamo in the 1990s and early 2000s.
EXCLUSIVE: As Deadline revealed in May, Warner Bros. Discovery is undergoing another round of layoffs in its television business and it’s starting today.
Warner Bros Discovery has announced three Thai HBO Asia Originals, including a third and final season of action fantasy Khun Pan and unscripted shows MarkKim + Chef and Deane’s Dynasty.
It’s safe to say that today’s picket line at Warner Bros in Burbank drew a little more attention than some other days. That’s because newly unionized strippers from North Hollywood turned out to support striking WGA writers — and they brought a pole along.
When Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” hits theaters next month, it marks the first film by the director not produced by Warner Bros. in nearly 20 years.
Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy take in the view of the rolling hills of Antibes. The sun beats down so fiercely on a lily-white tablecloth that the co-CEOs and co-chairpeople of the Warner Bros. Film Group shield themselves with Gucci and Ray-Ban shades. They resemble the all-powerful studio chiefs of yore — or at least their surroundings do. A lot has changed since the Golden Age of Hollywood: Jack Warner didn’t have two smartphones constantly buzzing, misconduct allegations involving “The Flash” star Ezra Miller and cratering share prices to worry about. “It’s so competitive now,” De Luca says, looking out at the shimmering water. “We all have to sing for our supper.”
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros Discovery is closing its Danish production arm, we’ve learned.
Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Sphere in Las Vegas isn’t just a round vehicle for a series of fall U2 concerts — it’s also host to an immersive screen of mammoth proportions that will be its own attractions when there aren’t any world-class rock bands taking over the space. And even when they are, someone has still got to come up with the visual content that will be part-and-parcel with any live residency there. That’s where Sphere Studios will come in, a division of Sphere Entertainment Co. that was announced Monday as the provider for what will appear on the venue’s ultimate big screen in Vegas (and those like it that are planned for Spheres to be built in other cities). Also revealed Monday as part of the rollout for Sphere Studios was Big Sky, described as “an ultra-high resolution camera system” that is “the first of the Studios’ many groundbreaking immersive innovations.”