David Zaslav blasted Warner Bros. execs for greenlighting Clint Eastwood flop: report

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reportedly tore into film executives at his firm for greenlighting a Clint Eastwood film that they knew could be a flop.
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David Zaslav, the top of the Warner Bros. Discovery media empire, tore into film executives at Warner who green-lit a Clint Eastwood movie though they knew the film would probably fail to show a revenue on the field workplace, in response to a report.

Days after Warner Bros. and Discovery accomplished a merger in early April, Zaslav met with Warner Bros. Footage studio heads and quizzed them a few string of flops, in response to The Wall Avenue Journal.

One of many films that grossed poorly on the field workplace final 12 months was “Cry Macho,” a neo-Western produced and directed by the long-lasting “Soiled Harry” star.

“Cry Macho” grossed slightly greater than $15.5 million worldwide — regardless of a reported price range of $33 million — in response to IMDB,

Through the assembly, studio heads acknowledged that they doubted whether or not “Cry Macho” could be worthwhile.

Zaslav is then reported to have requested why the movie was made if the executives knew it will be a flop.

Zaslav grilled Warner Bros. Studio executives about their determination to make “Cry Macho,” the 2021 neo-Western starring Clint Eastwood (seen left with co-star Eduardo Minett).

©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett C

Warner Bros. Studio executives stated they suspected the Eastwood film would flop, however greenlighted it anyway as a result of they felt indebted to the long-lasting star.

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The studio bosses are stated to have replied to Zaslav that they felt indebted to Eastwood due to the string of hits that he had delivered over his 50-year profession with the studio.

Eastwood, 91, additionally had an ideal document in getting movies into the can on time and by no means going over price range, the studio honchos instructed their new boss.

However Zaslav was unimpressed, in response to the Journal. He instructed his underlings that they didn’t owe favors to anybody.

Zaslav then reportedly quoted a well-known line from the 1996 Tom Cruise hit movie “Jerry Maguire.

“It’s not present associates, it’s present enterprise,” Zaslav is reported to have instructed them.

In his first six weeks on the helm of the newly merged entity, Zaslav has not been afraid to make daring strikes for the sake of belt-tightening.

Since taking up the newly merged entity in early April, Zaslav has not been shy about implementing cost-cutting measures, together with the shut down of fledgling streaming service CNN+.

Getty Pictures CNN+

He pulled the plug on the fledgling streaming service CNN+ lower than a month after its launch, citing low subscriber numbers.

“Zas isn't significantly affected person,” Margaret Loesch, who ran Discovery Youngsters underneath Zaslav however is now retired, instructed the Journal.

“He's going to wish to change issues rapidly,” she stated.

Loesch added that making CNN+ go darkish so rapidly was “pure Zas.”

Beneath Zaslav, a number of individuals who held high-profile positions have departed, together with former Warner Bros. Basic Counsel John Rogovin; Brett Weitz, the overall supervisor of TNT, TBS, and TruTV; and Tom Ascheim, who oversaw kids’s programming.