"It's a Bloodbath:" Disney Starts Laying Off 100+ Executives
Warner Bros. Effectively Declares the Death of Movie Theaters, As They Announce That ALL Warner Movies Will Be Released on HBO Max the Same Day They Are Released in Theaters

LOL. Learn to code.

It would be even more delicious if the 100 fired executives had to train their cheaper foreign replacements.

The staff reductions are taking place are falling under Disney's General Entertainment Content unit, overseen by Peter Rice, and Dana Walden's Walt Disney Television division, including ABC and studio 20th Television. Sources say more than 100 staffers have been impacted by Thursday's layoffs. "I'm sure Disney's seen worse but it feels pretty significant," said one longtime executive familiar with the cutbacks Thursday. Disney declined comment.

Usually executives are cut first, then even more middle managers, and then even more line workers.

Disney's propaganda division -- I mean, their TV propaganda division -- ABC News will also face layoffs in the "low single digits" percentage of their whole workforce. So maybe 5%?

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. makes it official that theaters are now abandoned by Hollywood and will be left to die: All of their 2021 movies -- Wonder Woman 1984, The Matrix 4, The Suicide Squad (the new one), Dune, etc. will be released on HBO Max the same day they are released into what few theaters are open.

They have decided to give up on movie theaters and try to get their streaming service up from an also-ran into a player.

The studio announced Thursday day-and-date releases for its 17-film slate, which will hit HBO Max for a one-month window that starts the same day they will be available in U.S. theaters.

The studio's 2021 slate includes projects such as The Suicide Squad, The Matrix 4, Dune, Godzilla vs. Kong and Space Jam: A New Legacy. Other films include Little Things, Judas and the Black Messiah, Tom & Jerry, Mortal Kombat, Those Who Wish Me Dead, The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, In The Heights, Reminiscence, Malignant, The Many Saints of Newark, King Richard and Cry Macho.

The unprecedented move is likely to catch theater owners off guard and upsets a model that has been in place for decades. Warner Bros. stresses that these are pandemic-only rules, but once something is broken, can you really put it back together again? This also raises serious concerns about the landscape of movie-going in 2021.

Yeah, when all the movie theaters go bankrupt in 2021, they won't exist in 2022, when the left decides to get over its corona panic. In 2022, you may legally be permitted to go to a movie theater -- but you'll be stopped by the fact that almost none exist any longer.

Hollywood previously offered theaters a window of exclusivity. I think it used to be six months, then about ten years ago they started shortening it until it was three months. That's the window where a movie would be in theaters only, and in which it would not be made available via videotape, DVD, video on demand, etc.

That window of exclusivity was the only thing keeping movie theaters viable. If a movie is available on TV at the same time it's in theaters, why go to the theaters?

Sure, for some movies, you could say that the experience of the theater was a selling point. But that's only true of movies with big spectacular visuals and/or movies where there's a party sort of atmosphere the first few nights of release.

Most movies lose nothing at all when seen on TV.

Movie theaters went berserk near the beginning of the pandemic panic, when a movie studio released some kid's movie -- Trolls 2: World Tour I think -- without giving movie theaters their typical window of exclusivity.

Now Warners says: To hell with your window of exclusivity.

And they are the first to do this, but they won't be the last.

There will be no movies released to theaters in 2021. When Disney makes it official that Black Widow will be released to Disney Plus, and Paramount sells the James Bond flop to someone, that will be the final tolling of the bell.

This is pretty much the last straw for general audience movie theaters. A few will stay open as a niche service, but this is the end of general theatrical exhibition.

PS: It's also the beginning of Hollywood lobbying for bailouts. Because, of course, conservatives should be forced to pay money to their persecutors, defamers, deplatformers, and enemies.

And I imagine a large number of Republicans will be more than happy to force conservatives to pay tithings to the Church of the Media.

Whatever's good for multinational corporations is good for America!

Thanks to Nevyan.

Warner Bros. Effectively Declares the Death of Movie Theaters, As They Announce That ALL Warner Movies Will Be Released on HBO Max the Same Day They Are Released in Theaters&bodytext=LOL. Learn to code. It would be even more delicious if the 100 fired executives had to train their cheaper foreign replacements. The staff reductions are taking place are falling under Disney's General Entertainment Content unit, overseen by Peter Rice,...&topic=world_news"> posted by Ace at 05:30 PM

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