The worldwide pandemic has caused not only emotional hardships for billions of people living through the toughest times of their lives, but also financial distress for anybody trying to simply make ends meet and take care of their loved ones. This is even applicable to the multi-billion dollar entertainment industry, which has had to face a whole new reality with dozens of delays to many of the most highly-anticipated movie releases of the year.
Warner Bros. is currently the most prominent entertainment company in the news stream right now, not only with the upcoming release of Wonder Woman 1984 arriving for the holidays, but also after breaking the news that their entire slate of films in 2021 would simultaneously release in theaters and streaming on HBO Max. This is sure to bring a major blow to the company financially, similarly to every other major studio in the business, and it will undoubtedly bring issues that are incredibly tough to resolve in this day and age.
One of these issues has just come to light in a new report detailing some tough choices that Warner Bros recently made, along with how it affects some huge names associated with the movie mogul.
NEWS
According to a new excerpt from the New York Times, Warner Bros decided to pay Wonder Woman 1984 director Patty Jenkins and leading actress Gal Gadot a sum of over $10 million USD each due to the film not receiving the typical exclusive theatrical run as a result of the worldwide pandemic (instead being released on HBO Max and in theaters concurrently). This move reportedly left representatives for many of Warner Bros' most notable stars, including DCEU star Margot Robbie as well as Angelina Jolie, Keanu Reeves, and Will Smith, confused and upset at the supposed preferential treatment for Gadot.
This news has led to rumors of a complete boycott against Warner Bros from these agents and representatives.
WHAT THIS MEANS
Even though the state of world affairs forced Warner Bros into a difficult situation, this news is revealing a lot of the behind the scenes dealing that movie fans don't usually hear about. Considering Wonder Woman 1984 is one of Warner Bros' highest-profile releases, it would make some sense that both Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot are taken care of for their work, especially since the film had faced delays long before the worldwide shutdown. However, if these two stars were the only ones compensated in this manner, it could certainly cause tensions to boil over among the rest of the company's prominent personalities.
Now that Warner Bros' entire 2021 slate of movies has been moved to a streaming release alongside theatrical premieres, it will be quite the mystery as to whether the company has plans to compensate other big names the same way going forward. The entertainment giant has The Suicide Squad with Margot Robbie set to release in August, along with other highly-anticipated movies such as Dune, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and Matrix 4 as well, and fans will be keeping a close eye on how this craziness resolves itself over the coming months.
