Should Warner Bros Shift Their Focus off DC Due to Recent Successes at the Box Office?
Surprise, surprise Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom is a critical and financial failure. Some say it’s superhero fatigue; others say it’s the sight of Amber Heard on screen. Either way, released a few days before Christmas in hopes of getting the holiday crowd in the theater, DC’s newest instalment has floundered at the box office. Putting to rest the Snyderverse and most likely ending a polarizing run for WB with their DC intellectual property.
That is, of course, until James Gunn can hopefully revive it in a few years. But in the midst of another embarrassing performance by Warner Bros. Discovery (we’re calling it that still, right?) there is a silver lining, not in comic book movies but in other adaptations of works that have a pre-built audience.
This past weekend, during the holidays, we saw two films push Aquaman out of the way and do big business at the box office. The Timothy Chalamet-led Wonka has audiences discovering the man behind the infamous Chocolate Factory. As of right now, it has raked in 280 million at the box office on a budget of 125 million.
A nice victory for WB, as although it does not market itself like a film for the whole family, it definitely is perfect for someone to spend money on multiple tickets for. The other Warner film is The Color Purple. It is not a remake of the original Spielberg-directed film, but rather an updated version that just so happens to be a musical this time around.
Sitting at 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, The Color Purple has gained traction every day it has been on the big screens. The reimagined tale pounced Aquaman 2 with an 18 million-dollar opening day. Most believe Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, which may have won the first few days, will now fade away, and Warner’s other titles will take hold of the box office into the new year.
It’s here that this poses a question for the studio that can never make up their mind. Why not shift off of these big-budget superhero films and put your money where your mouth is in an IP like this? Better yet, why not shift your financial focus over to the reimagining of great novels like The Color Purple and, in Wonka’s case, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
And to go a step further, maybe Warner can find some sort of stride as the big studio that adapts great new novels. This is obviously a trend that has been done before, but never a trend that really hurts studios at the bank. Many streamers do it, but now could be the time for studios to go on the offensive. Disney has to be busy retooling their role out of big-budget properties; maybe it’s time for the competition to do so as well.
In the rat race of winning the weekend box office, WB has faltered in the past, but right now they have three films that own it. One that is critically labeled awful and two that may catch a little bit of late award-season buzz, even if it is just for technical achievement. Warner may need to look into what they can go after in the publishing world and their properties, which may not seem niche. It wasn’t too long ago when they briefly led the charge with Stephen King adaptations, reviving “It.”
Yes, James Gunn is about to go in on his Superman film next year, but the problem here is that the same fans who went and saw Batman vs. Superman in their 20s are now in their thirties and may have a kid or two and just want a book to read in their downtime. Maybe a movie to go with that would entice them more than another comic book adaptation.
WB has a shot here at doing the right thing. They have never been able to keep up, and now they may have some time to get ahead here. All this talk about a restart of the DC universe just feels rigid. And now talk of a possible merger with Paramount has gone public. But none of us are executives at a movie studio here. We can only sit back and watch.
So, let’s hope that someone in a corner office is taking a look at market research and realizing that they need to let DC set sail from their dock for a while. Heck, let Aquaman steer that ship out to sea if need be. And start to realize that audiences are finding cinematic experiences in the stories of the human spirit that we all find relatable out of the gate. And not something we need to sift through in order to connect with a caped crusader.
What are your thoughts on WB’s latest releases? Do you agree? Let us know in the comments below.