David Zaslav has been kind of quiet since we heard he had a meeting with Paramount just before the holidays about a possible merger. We should’ve realized the respite meant something nefarious was afoot. Back in November, Zaslav tried to can the finished film Coyote vs. Acme for a tax-write off, a maneuver he’d previously pulled with Batgirl. But this time the public outrage was so great that Zaslav immediately backtracked. Sort of. He said that Warner Bros. would consider buyout offers from other studios or streamers who were interested in the film. That seemed to placate people, only we haven’t had an update… until now. TheWrap has unraveled how Warner Bros. wants to get Coyote vs. Acme off their accounting books in time for a fourth quarter earnings call on February 23, which would mean shelving the film for that tax write-off. In fact, Zaslav & Co. probably never had any serious intentions of selling the film to someone who would actually release it:
Viewers were enthusiastic: The movie, a live-action/animated hybrid that stars Will Forte and the “Looney Tunes” gang, had been earmarked for demolition on Nov. 9. But following the announcement that the movie would be canceled, a firestorm of outrage and indignation erupted. It was heightened by a friends-and-family screening that had already been planned before the cancellation announcement was made. The screening brought more goodwill and an even louder public outcry. “What was so exciting was that it felt like the film captured the voice of the Looney Tunes that we love in a way none of the other feature versions have ever done,” Paul Scheer, who was at that screening, told TheWrap.
Death by accounting: With Warner Bros. Discovery’s fourth quarter earnings call scheduled for Feb. 23, “Coyote vs. Acme” is running out of time. Many on the film’s team feel that the studio will use the ending of the quarter to get the movie off the books for good. “Coyote vs. Acme” is running up against something worse than a tunnel painted into the side of a mountain or a falling anvil. It will finally be silenced by a movie studio’s balance sheet. In a truly inglorious end, a source close to the movie doesn’t believe Warner Bros. would even announce that they hadn’t found a home for the movie. They would unceremoniously delete it. Never to be seen again.
‘Take it or leave it’: According to several people familiar with the situation, Netflix, Amazon and Paramount screened the movie (which was received well) and submitted handsome offers. Paramount even proposed a theatrical release component to their acquisition of “Coyote vs. Acme” that would allow for Warner Bros. to save face and, more importantly, let audiences see the movie the way it was meant to be experienced. … But Warner Bros., which stood to make $35 – $40 million on the tax write-down, wanted something in the ballpark of $75 – $80 million from a buyer. And what’s more, they wouldn’t allow the interested studios to counter Warner Bros.’ offer. It was a “take it or leave it” situation, one that the other studios didn’t even know they were entering into, insiders told TheWrap.
Zaslav hasn’t even seen the film: What made the situation even more appalling is that, according to a source close to the project, the four Warner Bros. executives responsible for making this decision — CEOs and co-chairpersons of Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, along with Warner Bros. Pictures Animation president Bill Damaschke and embattled CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav — hadn’t even seen the finished version of the movie. Zaslav never saw the movie at all. … These executives, who trumpet a filmmaker-first approach and have recently signed big deals with directors like Ryan Coogler and Paul Thomas Anderson (who conspicuously made their deals after the filmmaker-led backlash to Warner Bros. had subsided), were apparently prepared to trash a movie that they’d never even watched.
WB was likely just running out the clock: Through the process, Warner Bros. refused to share specific details with the filmmakers about the proposed deals (and Warner Bros.’ rejection of those deals). Everything was captured through a hazy fog of secondhand phone calls and conversations. There were champions of the project, for sure, but they couldn’t force Warner Bros. to properly communicate with the filmmakers. Intent to not only offload “Coyote vs. Acme” but to make a profit while doing so, the studio insisted on a price tag that would cover “negative cost plus” — what the movie cost the studio and additional fees that Warner Bros. had incurred.
David Zaslav: you’re dethpicable, to quote Daffy Duck. You know Daffy, one of the Warner Bros.’ signature Looney Tunes characters you’re seemingly out to annihilate!! I’m sorry for raising my voice, but the Looney Tunes are family. I don’t take kindly to people disrespecting my family. And to send Coyote vs. Acme to the guillotine without ever having seen the film?! For shame! Setting aside my emphatic and valid emotions, Zaslav is just so dumb. How did he think his ploy would not come to light? Or maybe I’m assuming he even cares. A few things need to happen now. For one, Vincent LaGuardia Gambini has to explain to Zaslav the concept of a “counter offer.” Next, someone with deep pockets needs to save Coyote vs. Acme from Zaslav, until Warner Bros. is under competent leadership again. Which rolls into the final item: get Zaslav out of there!
Of course you realize, this means WAR.
Photos credit: Photos credit: JPI Studios/Avalon, Jeffrey Mayer/Avalon, Getty
They need a movie guy for the job and pair him with an accountant. Just get someone who loves movies. Wb is ridiculous at this point. They need new managers. They have the weirdest casting. They just need some movie lovers.
David Zaslav is a one-man wrecking crew. He’s the reason that anything even sort of resembling educational science programming on Animal Planet/Discovery has been replaced by increasingly sh*tty reality tv shows about pools or treehouses. F*ck this guy, truly.
It might seem like Looney Tunes is a dumb hill to die on but Zaslav is an excellent real-life, real-time example of how the arts are actively being destroyed from within because everyone at the C-suite level is now a venture capital finance vulture.
I came here to say exactly this. I’m always amazed at the continuing ability of mediocre men to fail up in their jobs.
They succeed because they make money for each other and only each other. They not only don’t snitch on each others immoral and/or illegal behaviour, they actively cover for it. This is the resurgence of the good ole (white) boys network, they are back (not that they went far or for long) and god help us all they will not be taken down again.
I don’t get how it’s better to just delete a film? Why not just release it on a streamer? Then at least it makes some money? No advertising needed. I mean, what’s the point of filming an entire movie like Batgirl, paying everyone involved and then just deleting it? Insanity.
Tax write off. That’s literally it. They have decided they can make more money (by doing this to dodge paying a fair share of taxes) than they could by releasing it.
For anyone who doesn’t understand, this is a super simplified version. Say the movie costs 40 million to make. Now say they made enough profit, they owe 120 in taxes. By “shelving” (deleting) the movie, they can write off the complete 40, so now they only owe 80. Now imagine doing that repeatedly – they can get their taxes down to next to nothing (comparatively) by doing it. By releasing the movie, they may make a profit on it, BUT they’d have to make the 40 it costs, PLUS the 40 they’d now owe in taxes, PLUS any extra that profit is now going to make them owe. Unless they think they can guarantee it, which is where the 80-90 figure probably comes in, they won’t do it.
I really hope the film can be saved or even leaked somehow. But even if it isn’t, Zaslav has become the poster boy for problems with studio management. I shouldn’t even know who this guy is, but I hate him like everyone else.
There has to be some way to stop Zaslav and WB from being able to can a film and taking a tax write-off!! If somebody worked on that film and were paid depending on how it performed after it came out, they would be in deep trouble. The amount of time, resume, effect on future jobs… please stop this from being possible!
This really does feel (like many have said) building the house and then deliberately burning it down for the insurance money. Feels sleazy.
Interestingly, Warner Bros. has been making moves to try and woo Christopher Nolan back to the studio (for example:the Tenet IMAX rerelease). That was always going to be an uphill battle given that Universal Studios gave him carte blanche and he delivered a huge hit that will likely make him an Oscar winner. But I have a hunch stuff like this won’t help Warner’s case and will keep him out of Warners (given why he left).
I’m surprised how many filmmakers and producers — Ryan Coogler, PTA, and Margot Robbie — were willing to sign exclusive deals with WB given Zaslav’s horrible leadership. So Christopher Nolan will be paying attention in real-time as Zaslav and his team find a way to bungle these deals and burn bridges. Something tells me Coogler and Robbie (once the success of Barbie is in Zaslav’s rearview mirror) will eventually be on the receiving end of his tax write off scheme.
For those who have never seen it, do yourself a favor and read the wonderfully hilarious case of Coyote vs Acme.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1990/02/26/coyote-v-acme
All these CEOs need to be kicked out. Bloated idiot guys, I’m sick of them.
Word on the internet is that Scrooge Zaslav, who is small but his ego isn’t, is afraid of the movie turning out to be a hit elsewhere and thus him and WB being shamed and ridiculed. The buzz alone, a globally-known IP, and to stick it to WB would bring in a highly-interested audience, plus, it already tested well.
So, why not release it?
This story doesn’t make sense. We’re missing a key piece of it. Warner Bros could sell the movie and still get a tax write-off, afaik, as long as it didn’t recoup all its costs. There must be some other reason Zaslav wants to can the film.