Inside the Confusing State of DC, From Huge ‘Joker 2’ Paydays to the Search for Their Kevin Feige

variety.com:

David Zaslav spoke to investors on Aug. 4, the very first question was about his decision, announced two days earlier, to cancel the release of DC comics adaptation “Batgirl,” taking the HBO Max production (as well as “Scoob!: Holiday Haunt”) as a tax write-down instead.

If Zaslav hoped his answer might help to quell the firestorm that choice created across the industry, he appears to have done the opposite.Zaslav made public what had been reported and rumored for months: that the company had “restructured” to create a team with a “10-year plan focusing just on DC” that would be “similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together very effectively with [Marvel Studios chief] Kevin Feige at Disney.” But the executive, who took the reins of the company in April, did not disclose who would be a part of that team, nor did he acknowledge that Walter Hamada, the executive who’s led the DC Films unit since 2018, actually has a long term plan for DC’s cinematic universe and has been in the middle of implementing it.And while Zaslav’s newly announced “reset” for DC appeared to dismiss Hamada and his team’s preparations, the lack of specifics, and some mixed signals, has created an atmosphere of confusion — and rampant speculation — over the future of more than a dozen DC film and TV projects already in the pipeline.As it stands, only one new DC feature project currently has a greenlight post-merger: “Joker: Folie à Deux,” which is scheduled to hit theaters in 2024.

The follow-up to the wildly successful 2019 “Joker,” which grossed $1.07 billion globally, comes with a much bigger price tag than the first.