By 
A week is a long time in politics. It seems like a single summer season is a long time in Hollywood. Earlier this year, Warner Bros. looked in some serious trouble. New studio chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy had swung for the fences and looked to be failing.
Joker: Folie a Deux, Mickey 17, and Alto Knights were high-profile flops, leading to commentators, us included, to question the wisdom of such large budgets going to such specialist projects.
Then this summer happened, and Warner Bros. is now sitting atop the profit pile and looking good.
A happy Zaslav, this summer… probably.
A report in Variety has outlined how they have had one hell of a season. A Minecraft Movie, Sinners, Final Destination Bloodlines, F1, Superman, Weapons, and The Conjuring: Last Rites have all done big numbers for them.
One Battle After Another is their last major release, and all reports say it is a potential “best movie of the year” awards contender.
The Variety piece talks profit margins. Superman led the way, with Warner Bros. banking $125 million in theatrical profits from the franchise starter.
Final Destination: Bloodlines made them $75 million, then Weapons with $65 million, and still going. Sinners made them $60 million. F1 is an Apple movie, but Warner’s got the theatrical distribution rights, so it earned them a flat fee, plus bonuses, of $34 million.
A Minecraft Movie wasn’t detailed by profit, but any observer knows that is likely to be absiolutely huge. The source quoted in the article says that Warner Bros. has made around $600 million in combined year-to-date theatrical profits before The Conjuring adds to the mix.
Of course, this is before various front-end points deals are settled, and internal Hollywood accounting practices swing into effect, with Production A renting studio space from Holding Company B, and so on. A studio insider has reportedly disputed these figures, and the numbers accounted for come tax time will no doubt look a little different after all of the above plays out.
The post Warner Bros. Sits Top Of The Profit Pile appeared first on Last Movie Outpost.
