Warner Bros. is going through some major strategic changes thanks to the company's merger with Discovery, particularly with regard to its future programs across the DC universe. The company's tentpole movie The Flash is somewhat in limbo for the time being, and fans have already seen a couple of projects cut from development, including The Wonder Twins.
After moving towards lesser-known characters like John Cena's Peacemaker, The Wonder Twins was set to follow that same path of bringing in heroes who had never been utilized in live-action storytelling before. Initially set to feature Riverdale's KJ Apa and Young Sheldon's Isabel May, this new outing was going to add another set of youngsters to the group of younger heroes DC already has in development.
Unfortunately, reports have indicated that Warner Bros. no longer plans to move forward with The Wonder Twins, even though it was planned to begin shooting this summer. According to a new report from inside the company, this decision was made as part of a bigger plan for how things will be moving forward under Discovery's umbrella.
New CEO Taking DC in New Direction
A new report from The Wall Street Journal detailed how Discovery CEO David Zaslav is looking to undo some of the old programming strategies that the company used to employ at Warner Bros., specifically with HBO Max original movies.
This change under Zaslav led the team to cancel the upcoming The Wonder Twins movie after the CEO considered the movie's $75 million budget to be too high for a movie that would only be released via their streaming service.
Moving forward, Zaslav intends for the company to put more focus into upping its number of big-screen releases, hoping to release 20-25 theatrical projects per year. For reference, the studio released 17 movies in theaters last year.
Zaslav also noted that movies that are released in theaters perform better once they arrive on HBO Max in the long run when compared to movies only intended for a streaming release.
Will Wonder Twins Cause WB Domino Effect?
Aside from various former Warner Bros. executives leaving their positions during this merger, Zaslov makes it clear that the company is working fast to get itself back on the right path financially and creatively.
Even though a $75 million budget doesn't seem like a huge undertaking for a company like Warner Bros., putting it into a movie for streaming rather than a theatrical release seems that it wouldn't gain as much in return from a money perspective. In that same light, the team is already reconsidering putting the upcoming Batgirl in theaters along with its own HBO Max release, while The Wonder Twins was canned altogether. Apparently, Batgirl gives them a bit more confidence.
Whether The Wonder Twins ever gets back onto the schedule is a mystery, but if it does, it would likely be part of those 20-25 releases per year that Warner Bros. hopes to put in theaters as opposed to only streaming it. Particularly with Disney finding so much success using its own theatrical/streaming model for franchises like the MCU, Warner Bros. has much bigger plans ahead as it looks to find its own success in this new era of releases.
