It’s no secret that many fans are having problems with Warner Bros. Lately, specifically because of their recentDC Comicsadaptations likeBatman V Superman: Dawn of JusticeandSuicide Squad. The studio has been having much larger troubles, as many of their recent movies haven’t done very well. A former employee with some inside knowledge of the situation is very unhappy about it. She has published an open letter, absolutely railing against the executives at the studio, and revealing thatWonder Womanmay also be a mess behind the scenes.
The letter was posted to the websitePajibaunder the nameGracie Law, which is a reference toKim Cattrall’s character inBig Troulbe in Little China. The former employee claims that she has had the letter sitting around ever sinceMan of Steelcame out, butSuicide Squadwas what made her finally want to publish it. She was very specifically hard on Warner Bros CEOKevin TsujiharaandJustice LeaguedirectorZack Snyder. Much of her frustration stems fromTsujihara’s decision to lay off a ton of studio employees in order to support filmmakers, but the studio has “dropped the ball” repeatedly.
“Zack Snyder is not delivering. Is he being punished? Assistants who were doing fantastic work certainly were. People in finance and in marketing and in IT. They had no say in a movie called Batman V Superman only having 8 minutes of Batman fighting Superman in it, that ends because their moms have the same name. Snyder is a producer on everyDC movie. He is still directing Justice League. He is being rewarded with more opportunity to get more people laid off. I’m assuming you yourself haven’t been financially affected in any real way. You and your studio are the biggest lesson about life one can learn: The top screws up and the bottom suffers. Peter Jackson phones it in and a marketing supervisor has to figure out a plan B for house payments.”
The letter definitely spends a good amount of time calling out the studio for their DC Comics movies, but it doesn’t exclusively take issue with the way that Warner Bros. has handled theDC Extended Universe. She also points out that many of the studio’s recent movies likeAdam Sandler’sBlended, the disastrousPoint Breakremake and two of the biggest bombs of 2015,PanandJupiter Ascending, have all proved to be poor decisions for the studio. She points out that the studio laid off nearly a thousand of their employees in order to support the creatives behind these movies, and that clearly doesn’t sit well with her, or those who lost their jobs. She even included a memo that was sent to Warner Bros. employees byTsujihara, explaining why the layoffs were happening.
“At Warner Bros., we work with the world’s most extraordinary storytellers, and our focus has always been to provide the creative environment and financial resources they need to realize their vision. Our commitment to that won’t change. In fact, we’re investing more than ever in our film and television productions.”
Suicide Squadis performing very well at the box office, but it is following the trend in theDCEUof getting slammed by critics. After Warner Bros. Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con, where the studio showed encouragingJustice Leaguefootage and the very firstWonder Woman movietrailer, fans had reason to feel positive about the future. Unfortunately, if anything in this letter is to be believed, fans may have cause for concern. In her letter, the former employee claims that behind the scenes,Patty Jenkins’Wonder Womanis also a mess.
“What are you even doing? I wish to God you were forced to live out of a car until you made a #1 movie of the year. Maybe Wonder Woman wouldn’t be such a mess. Don’t try to hide behind the great trailer. People inside are already confirming it’s another mess. It is almost impressive how you keep rewarding the same producers and executives for making the same mistakes, over and over.”
Warner Bros.recently decided to restructure things behind the scenes, shifting around certain studio heads to run various divisions.Geoff Johnsis now overseeing all of the DC Extended Universe movies, and the studio is focusing on their properties that represent the most potential, such asFantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, as well as the variousLEGO Moviesequels and spinoffs. If this letter is to be believed, the problems run very deep with the studio, and the shifting around may not actually be fixing the problems that are occurring. You can check out the full open letter for yourself onPajiba.
