Here Comes ‘The Flash’: A Low-Profile Ezra Miller, the ‘Secret Ending’ Warners Is Trying to Preserve and a Sequel Script on Ice

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic The departure of CNN’s Chris Licht, following his turbulent year atop the cable news network, places a pause on one of the great media stories of the decade so far. But even non-media-junkies can appreciate just how strange and how strenuously rocking had been Licht’s time at the network: It played out across screens. The trouble with being the place that invented the 24-hour news cycle is that those hours can come back to bite when you’re the story. There it was in politics, when Donald Trump’s “Town Hall,” with purported rising star Kaitlan Collins, gear-shifted into the first televised rally of the 2024 presidential cycle — with CNN’s air being used to depict an audience of Trump supporters cheering on his jibes. (No less an eminence than Christiane Amanpour, a CNN icon, registered her dissent in public.) There it was on the business pages, with Licht’s overseeing the dismantling of streaming product CNN+, on orders from Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav, setting the tone for his tenure. There it was at the Oscars, when Michelle Yeoh used her best actress acceptance speech to rebuke anchor Don Lemon’s bizarre on-air comments about a woman’s “prime” years. There it was in the gossip pages, after a Variety story about Lemon’s comportment toward his female co-anchors on the network’s flagship morning show, and then his ouster, leaked into the tabloids, and never seemed to be countered by any good news about the network. And, finally, there it was at length, with an all-access profile by the Atlantic’s Tim Alberta revealing Licht’s contempt for predecessor Jeff Zucker and the depths of his disdain for and, frankly, confusion about CNN’s mission.

Fox News Digital in a Wednesday report that posted just a couple of hours before Warner Bros. Discovery brass announced the ouster of CEO Chris Licht. David Zaslav handpicked Licht last April to replace Jeff Zucker, the successful but divisive longtime CNN leader ousted after disclosing an affair with one of his direct reports.

“We are sending a message that our content doesn’t have to cost a fortune to watch,” said the CEO of fledgling streamer SkyShowtime, who said there could be more bundling in the future.

“We are sending a message that our content doesn’t have to cost a fortune to watch,” said the CEO of fledgling streamer SkyShowtime, who backed David Zaslav’s recent suggestion that rival streamers should bundle together.

Today, Outfest announced the Opening and Closing Night gala film selections for the 41st edition of the Outfest Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Film Festival, taking place from July 13 – 23 in Los Angeles, presented by Warner Bros. Discovery and Genesis Motor America. The festival will open with Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, directed by Aitch Alberto, and the 11-day event will close with Chasing Chasing Amy, directed by Sav Rodgers. The Opening Night Gala will screen at the Orpheum Theatre, with the Closing Night Gala screening at The Montalbán Theatre.

There is a suggested line to when a superhero movie relies too much on the fleeting high of fan service and special effects. Andy Muschietti’s “The Flash” blitzes past that line and then proceeds to run out of ideas.

CNN Worldwide chairman and CEO Chris Licht addressed the bombshell profile in The Atlantic in comments to network staffers on Monday, telling them, “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you.”

Former Warner Bros. President of Sales and Distribution, D. Barry Reardon, passed at the age of 92 on May 27 in Vero Beach, Florida.

The hype is real. DC’s The Flash may not be the greatest comic book movie ever made, but it comes damn close. Easily the best in the genre since Spider-Man: No Way Home, this fresh, invigorating and hugely entertaining summer treat is as good as it gets when it comes to cinematic takes on superheroes.

Ezra Miller is trying to keep out of the spotlight.

EXCLUSIVE: The Golden Trailer Awards has unveiled its nominees for its 23rd annual extravaganza taking place on Thursday, June 29th at The Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. The awards show honors the creative teams that are tasked with condensing two-hour films into two-minute trailers.

The New York Times.“I gave them a gun, and they shot me with it,” Zucker said, according to those sources.Zucker’s abrupt resignation in February 2022 put a spotlight on Gollust, his longtime lieutenant and the network’s chief marketing officer. Gollust, who had worked with Zucker for decades and rejoined CNN in 2013 as his “closest colleague,” had been identified as the woman with whom he had a “consensual relationship,” which he didn’t disclose to CNN owner at the time, AT&T, in apparent violation of company policies.Gollust resigned two weeks after Zucker’s ouster and following a WarnerMedia investigation into Chris Cuomo and his efforts to help his brother, former New York Gov.

Ezra Miller is racing into theaters as Barry Allen in The Flash – their first solo movie within the DC Universe.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) Jamie Cooke is supercharging “original documentaries that push the boundaries” from his Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Turkey region by greenlighting around 10 docs per year.

Coming out this month is the superhero speedster film, “The Flash,” starring the controversial figure Ezra Miller. And Warner Bros., following sub-par box office performances from recent releases like “Black Adam” and “Shazam! Fury of The Gods,” is really banking that the much-buzzed-about superhero flick will get a great reaction from audiences.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN chief Chris Licht told staffers Monday he wants to help them make the news rather than being a central figure in it. In the wake of a devastating profile of the CNN CEO published Friday by The Atlantic, Licht set about soothing frayed nerves Monday by telling employees on the news outlet’s regular morning call that “I should not be in the news unless it’s taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about,” according to two people familiar with the matter, The words are the first from Licht to be made public since the piece was unveiled. Thanks to a rich vein of unfettered access provided over months, the piece detailed the executive’s struggles — and some of his insecurities — during his first year on the job at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet. David Zaslav, the CEO of the parent company, has articulated a strategy of eliminating some of the activist bent that resounded at CNN under its previous chief, Jeff Zucker. But Licht’s efforts to do so have been plagued by near-constant leaks and a restive staff, many of whom remain loyal to Licht’s predecessor, ousted after he admitted to a longstanding relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s former chief marketing officer.

Sigourney Weaver will premiere on Aug. 4. The seven-part series is based on Holly Ringland’s same-name debut novel. According to the synopsis, “When Alice, aged 9, tragically loses her parents in a mysterious fire, she is taken to live with her grandmother June at Thornfield flower farm, where she learns that there are secrets within secrets about her and her family’s past. Alice finds solace in the native plants and flowers growing in her Australian backyard. She, too, begins to grow from her past, but soon must fight for her life against the man she loves.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Not a bird or a plane — nope, it’s a new limited-time NFT-based movie marketing stunt from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. As physical disc sales have waned, Warner Bros. is trying to establish a new home-entertainment business model based on nonfungible tokens (NFTs), which verify ownership and authenticity of digital content. Customers can buy, sell and trade the NFTs in Warner Bros.’s online marketplace, powered by content blockchain technology provider Eluvio. Its newest NFT-based bundles are built around 1978’s “Superman: The Movie,” starring Christopher Reeve and directed by Richard Donner. The Superman Web3 Movie Experience is a multimedia NFT that includes the film in 4K Ultra HD format, plus extras like image galleries and artist renderings by notable DC artists. The studio is hoping to generate excitement among NFT enthusiasts and DC aficionados, to make money through the initial sales as well as to foster an engaged community of fans with the potential for longer-term upside.

Selome Hailu HBO said “Hello, angel” to 913,000 viewers when it aired the series premiere of “The Idol” on Sunday night. Provided by Warner Bros. Discovery, that number points to Nielsen’s measurement of linear viewers on HBO’s cable channel combined with WBD’s own data regarding streams on Max. For context, “Euphoria” drew 1.1 million viewers when it premiered in 2019. (Max had not yet launched, meaning viewers were counted across HBO, HBO Go and HBO Now.) Levinson’s second HBO outing is therefore 17% behind his first. The trajectory of “Euphoria” Season 1 viewership was mostly flat, peaking with 1.2 million viewers of the finale, meaning that “The Idol” could still manage to beat out “Euphoria’s” early performance if its audience continue to grow. But there’s only one month left to achieve that, as the drama’s first season will run for a short five episodes.

After the massive weekend success of Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, there are a lot of rival studios that are looking at executing their comic book IP differently on the big screen. Quite often, animated superhero projects are released directly to the home (think Warner Bros DC’s myriad superhero toon movies like 2010’s Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam and Disney+/Marvel Studio’s avant garde series What If?). Leave it to the guys who bedazzled many with the near half billion grossing The Lego Movie, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, to revolutionize the family animated genre once again.

Charna Flam With a few mystifying teasers and less than two months until the premiere of the live-action “Barbie” film, audiences still don’t know exactly how the film will unfold. But the production team has started to reveal insight into the film — including how they caused an international pink paint shortage. In a recent Architectural Digest profile with production designer Sarah Greenwood, set decorator Katie Spencer and director Greta Gerwig, the group explain that they set out “to capture what was so ridiculously fun” about Barbie’s world, but especially that of Architectural Digest’s subject: Barbie’s Dreamhouse. “I wanted the pinks to be very bright, and everything to be almost too much,” Gerwig stated. She shared that “the ‘kid-ness’ was paramount” — evoking the feeling of never forgetting “what made [her] love Barbie” as a young girl.

The Los Angeles Times in 1999. “He is one of the few people who really did change the game. Everyone who knows anything will tell you he revolutionized this business and he is a visionary.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Barry Reardon, who led theatrical distribution at Warner Bros. for nearly 20 years starting in the late 1970s, died on May 27 at his home in Vero Beach, Fla. He was 92. A respected 31-year industry veteran, Reardon was known as the “dean” of theatrical distribution and was credited with transforming the way that studio films are marketed and released. During his tenure, the industry began to place more of an emphasis on daily and weekend box office reports and expanded the scope of the all-important summer blockbuster season. At the time of his retirement in 1999 — after 21 years at the studio and 17 as distribution chief — he exited with an enviable track record. Under his leadership, the studio had 22 films cross the $100 million mark domestically — an impressive milestone since movie tickets were much less expensive back then, and one that’s proven to be challenging to match again in these pandemic times. And Warner Bros. spent most of those years among the top three studios in terms of North American box office share.

warns could be used as “plagiarism machines” to craft scripts without writers. According to a WGA memo, the strike is costing Hollywood’s economy $30 million a day. Jack Kyser, the chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, estimated that the 2007-2008 strike cost his state $2.5 billion; this time the estimate of potential damages are likely to top at least $3 billion. Midway through the last strike, Kyser told the L.A.

The Supernatural franchise is coming to end — at least for now — as The Winchesters has not been able to get a second season anywhere. Producing studio Warner Bros. Television’s efforts to set up the Supernatural prequel series at another network or streaming platform following its cancellation by the CW have been unsuccessful. All possible avenues have been exhausted, and the search for a new home has come to an end, despite a strong #SaveTheWinchesters campaign led by series executive producer (and Supernatural star) Jensen Ackles.

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that the George Clooney directed MGM title, The Boys in the Boat, is set to hit theaters on Monday, Dec. 25, as a wide release.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director The summer movie season is heating up in theaters this June with the releases of Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” and Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” but streamers are also set to make some noise with the arrival of big tentpoles. From Netflix unveiling the sequel to one of its biggest original movies in history (the Chris Hemsworth-starring “Extraction 2”) to Michael B.

In just two weeks, Andy Muschietti‘s “The Flash” dashes into theaters, ushering in the multiverse into the DCEU. The synopsis for the film? After Ezra Miller‘s Barry Allen goes back in time in an attempt to save his parents from getting murdered, he changes the present into one where superheroes he knows no longer exist.

It was Pride and Drag Queen picket day in Los Angeles, where around 300 people hit up Warner Bros. Discovery to highlight their issues as the strike marches into its second month.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Back in April, James Gunn told me what he was looking for in the new Man of Steel for “Superman: Legacy.” “The next Superman has to be someone who has all the humanity that Superman has, but he’s also an alien,” he said. “It’s gotta be somebody who has the kindness and the compassion that Superman has and be somebody who you want to give a hug.” He added, “We have some really great choices, which I’m excited about.” Could former “The Bold and the Beautiful” star Pierson Fodé be on Gunn’s list? I hear that the 31-year-old actor could be in the running for the coveted role. Sources tell me that Fodé sent in a self-tape, which included a montage of footage showing his very Clark Kent-like childhood on a farm in the small town of Moses Lake, Wash. I’m told Gunn liked what he saw.

EXCLUSIVE: Lifetime is expanding its lifestyle programming via its Home.Made.Nation strand.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director With Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s giant action tentpole “The Fall Guy” on the way, Ryan Gosling remains one of Hollywood’s most in-demand leading men. But that wasn’t always the case. The Oscar nominee recently told GQ magazine that his rise to leading man got its start because he landed his first few roles on the belief that he wasn’t leading man material to begin with. Gosling’s acting breakthrough came in 2001 with his leading role in Henry Bean’s “The Believer,” in which he played a Jewish kid from New York who becomes a Neo-Nazi. Gosling is none of these, but he said “the fact that I wasn’t really right for it was exactly why [Henry] thought I was right for it.” The actor got similar feedback when he went to audition for “The Notebook,” Nick Cassavetes’ 2004 Nicholas Sparks adaptation that turned Gosling and co-star Rachel McAdams into romance icons.

Last year, the movie talk of the summer was Ezra Miller‘s erratic behavior and how it potentially threatened the theatrical release of Andy Muschietti‘s “The Flash. But EW reports that, according to Muschietti and his sister, Barbara Muschietti, the threat of the blockbuster being shelved was never legitimate.

K.J. Yossman Super-indie All3Media is for sale, according to reports. The London-headquartered independent television producer, which is responsible for shows including “Fleabag,” “The Traitors” and Jamie Dornan starrer “The Tourist,” is being put up for sale by owners Liberty Global and Warner Bros Discovery, The Telegraph reports. The newspaper said JP Morgan have been “called in to run an auction” but plans could still change given the tough market conditions. If it goes ahead, the sale could generate more than £1 billion ($1.2 billion). Parties posited as potential buyers include ITV and Banijay as well as private equity firms.

With Ezra Miller being involved in so many personal controversies, many believed that The Flash could be abandoned completely. However, director Andy Muschietti and producer Barbara Muschietti are dispelling the rumors and claim that the film was never in danger.

All3Media, the British super-producer behind hits including The Traitors and 1917, is up for sale.