PREVIEW Warners' Rumor Mill on a Rampage
Notably, who didn't make Zaslav's list for teacher's pet?
1. If You Don’t Have Anything Nice to Say…
On an Aug. 4 earnings call, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav gave dozens of shoutouts to everyone and everything, from HBO chief Casey Bloys (whose name was invoked seven times!) to “the incomparable” Joanna and Chip Gaines to the upcoming Flash movie (never mind all the controversy surrounding star Ezra Miller). Even the long-retired Jack Welch and — more shockingly — the long since-exiled Les Moonves received mentions. But the one name that received no play from Zaslav was the man with the biggest deal at the studio: J.J. Abrams.
Rumors have been flaring for a while that Zaslav is questioning the wisdom of Abrams’ Bad Robot mega-deal, which was struck in September 2019 and pegged at $500 million. “He wants to know, ‘What are we getting for what we’re paying?’” says one.
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