Warner Bros. Discovery announces no DC Fandome this year

[perc2100]

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In what I can only take as another perplexing decision, it was definitively announced there will be no DC Fandome this year.  After DC skipped Comic-Con, with a minimal presence in panels, and no DC booth, I thought Fandome would be a slam dunk.  The event, featuring mostly pre-recorded panels that covered a myriad of different DC topics (from comic events, fan stuff, video games, TV, streaming, and theatrical film panels) the last few years during COVID times that featured few if any in-person Cons, felt like an EZPZ production for DC to put together.  While many of the panels were 'vanilla' they DID feature a marketing blitz with zero competition (vs the theatrical panel Saturday morning of SDCC that absolutely had to compete with the attention of a Marvel Studios late afternoon blitz) and 100% maximum control of information (vs uncomfortable audience questions or a star that could say/do something ill-advised that would easily be edited out for a presentation here).

This is legit odd IMO, and seems to either signal more cost-cutting measures OR uncertainty with how WBD will handle DC properties going forward across all of DC's platforms. 

Of course, this could merely be a "Fandome was strictly done as a stop-gap dring COVID and now that in-person events are back on we're focusing on that," as (I'm paraphrasing) a spokesperson says in the article.  That doesn't address their minimal presence at the biggest North American convention this past July, though (which I've never heard WBD/DC address, meaning I don't think I ever heard a reason for why they 100% skipped any sore of Booth presence in the exhibit hall frequented by tens of thousands of potential customers daily).  Obviously if you're one to proclaim doom & gloom of DC/WB at the hands of their new Discovery overlords, this is more fuel to that fire.

I get the economic sense this makes, but from a marketing standpoint this doesn't feel like a good decision.  I was hoping for Fandome this year, even though the previous couple of years weren't amazing with 2021 being less impressive than 2020 (and maybe THAT is the true answer here - WBD didn't feel confident in their team producing this worth their time/financial investment - which is maybe an altogether different kind of problem facing WBD/DC)

[Old Man Grey]

How did the Discovery network become so powerful that it bosses around HBO and WB? Do they make so much money on their phony "reality" shows that established titans like HBO and WB have to cower before them?

[perc2100]

How did the Discovery network become so powerful that it bosses around HBO and WB? Do they make so much money on their phony "reality" shows that established titans like HBO and WB have to cower before them?

Discovery bought Warner Bros from AT&T and installed the Discovery CEO who made his reputation with layoffs & scripted cutbacks in order to beef up profit margins with unscripted reality show stuff w/minimal costs.  Marvel Studios was concerned about something similar happening to them when Disney bought Marvel, and fortunately for all involved, I think, Disney's CEO at the time visited Marvel Studios to let them know that they would continue to let Marvel operate independently while utilizing the marketing power & production budgets of Disney. 

WB had significant debt when Discovery bought them and part of the sale was Discovery promised its shareholders it would make significant cuts (a specific amount of billions, I can't recall) and laid off hundreds, installed new high-up execs, and started canceling series, movies, and dropping products from HBO Max (in order to avoid paying residuals for series/movies that likely don't get a lot of 'hits').

[Michael M]

This whole thing reeks of "we don't know what we're doing yet". IMHO steering clear of SDCC was very telling. It's like they decided to just give up, stop all projects that were even remotely considered "stoppable", with the idea of waiting to see what could be done next year. The Flash and Black Adam movies were already too far ahead to stop. But everything else they're just blowing up.  It's nuts.


I was joking with a friend that Marvel should buy DC and then bring them all into the MCU via the multiverse theory. Amalgam Cinematic Universe anyone? 🤣

[perc2100]

This whole thing reeks of "we don't know what we're doing yet". IMHO steering clear of SDCC was very telling. It's like they decided to just give up, stop all projects that were even remotely considered "stoppable", with the idea of waiting to see what could be done next year. The Flash and Black Adam movies were already too far ahead to stop. But everything else they're just blowing up.  It's nuts.


I was joking with a friend that Marvel should buy DC and then bring them all into the MCU via the multiverse theory. Amalgam Cinematic Universe anyone? 🤣

Right, and even with what happened to BATGIRL it feels like NO movie is too far along to can: it's all about what they think is bankable at the moment (of course, moviemaking is a business).  I don't generally care much about business stuff, as none of that pertains to me personally: I have zero WBD stock, I don't know many people who work for the company, so I don't really have a personal stake in anything other than the art side of it: the films, the series, etc.  It's hard not to come to the conclusion, though, as you say that there is zero attention being paid to the art, and 100% on potential profit margins: and certainly hard to think WBD has a good direction/plan for stuff like DC.