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In a new profile for New York Magazine, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is depicted as the golden boy of the old boys’ club. He reportedly starts every day making phone calls to various colleagues and industry insiders like Jason Blum, Brian Grazer and David Geffen; journalist Michael Wolff (author of Fire And Fury: Inside The Trump White House) notes that Zaslav “did not, in our conversation, have any women on his call sheet.” The old boys’ club is quite literal in this case, as Wolff also reports that Zaslav has a weekly Zoom hangout with a bunch of legacy media octo- and septuagenarians, plus the 92-year-old Nick Pileggi (co-writer of Goodfellas), whose latest film The Alto Knights was passed over by every other studio before being made at WBD “at Zas’ behest.”
Wolff reports that Zaslav “proudly pushed [Alto Knights] into production,” a move that “was being touted by some in the industry as both Zaslav’s boldness over committee caution and a return to the great age of Hollywood dramas.” The Alto Knights was itself something of a (really, really) old boys’ club, from Pileggi, 93-year-old producer Irwin Winkler, 82-year-old director Barry Levinson, and 81-year-old star Robert De Niro. Unfortunately, Zaslav and the boys’ club took a hit with this gamble, as The Alto Knights opened to a dire $3.2 million, described by Variety as “one of the worst-ever starts for a major studio release.”
WBD has already been in hot water over its theatrical failures, with rumors swirling that Warner Bros. Pictures co-CEOs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy are on the chopping block. Wolff reports that “blame is being spread around, with Zaslav disclaiming responsibility” for Alto Knights flopping, even though he positioned himself as its personal champion. According to Wolff, there is an “expectation that heads, though not Zas’s, will roll.” On the contrary, it was reported last month that Zaslav’s salary rose just over 4% to $51.9 million in 2024, per Variety. “He is an avatar of the death of the middle class in Hollywood,” one anonymous producer observed. “In the old days, everybody did well. Now, all those people in the middle have been squeezed. Zas, though, is doing better than ever.” You can read the full piece here.
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