User:Stephenfisher2001/sandbox/Warner Business

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. and abbreviated as WB) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of AT&T's WarnerMedia through its Studios & Networks division. Founded in 1923 by four brothers Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games, and is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). Like Disney, and most companies, they're well known for making great films and having a huge legacy. However, some their business practices, most of them attributed to their CEOs, aren't as happy as their films, franchises, shows, and theme parks.

Why Their Business Practices Are Despicable

 * 1) On select editions of all their movies on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and 4K Ultra HD, their Japanese dub and subtitle options are inaccessible unless either played on a PC or if the menu language is changed to Japanese, either on-disc or through the Blu-ray player's default UI.
 * 2) The studio can sometimes come off as hypocritical or having double standards sometimes, especially when it comes to modern PC culture, or SJWs. The studio has also been accused of mistreating its employees.
 * 3) * Despite claiming of not discriminating anyone, the rapper/actor Ice Cube has accused the studio of mistreating him and berating his ideas. For example, some executives told Cube that Ride Along would not sell well overseas because it starred Black actors in the leading role and that Straight Outta Compton was a niche film that wouldn't have wide success or do well overseas. Both of these films were later made by Universal Pictures and were box office successes.
 * 4) *Just like Disney, they also support mh:reallifevillains:Amber Heard, which led to them being criticized by Johnny Depp's fans. Unfairly, they fired Depp from playing Gellert Grindelwald in further Fantastic Beasts sequels but still kept Heard to play Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (though hopefully, there are rumors that they want to fire Heard but can't do so legally, so they might try to find an excuse to kick her out, and that Heard is actually lying about her involvement in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom). What's more, though there are no videos which prove that Depp really abused Heard, there's a video in which Ezra Miller, the actor who plays Credence Barebone/Aurelius Dumbledore in the same franchise, is seen choking a fan of them in a bar, and they haven't been fired from their role.
 * 5) * They apparently allowed DC Films President Walter Hamada to cover up Joss Whedon's racism towards Ray Fisher while filming his Justice League reshoots. When Fisher tried to expose Whedon and Hamada, Warner supposedly took "remedial action" with Whedon but didn't do anything to Hamada and stood up for him. This led Fisher to understandably refuse to work with Hamada again, so Warner wrote out Cyborg from the upcoming 2022's The Flash film.
 * 6) * They have horribly mistreated Zack Snyder during development of his own cut of Justice League, likely because doing the fan-demanded director's cut is admitting that they committed a mistake by letting Joss Whedon complete the theatrical version of the film (refusing to acknowledge that Snyder left the production due to a family tragedy), even though Snyder's cut (now dubbed Zack Snyder's Justice League) has been their most successful release in 2021. Not only that, but prior to altering Snyder's original film, they also did a lot of executive meddling in Sucker Punch and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to the point the extended home video versions of those films were better received, prevented Snyder from doing a third 300 film because it featured a gay romance between Alexander the Great and his confidant Hephaestion, stalled Army of the Dead into development hell for years whereas Netflix quickly did it when Snyder offered to do the film and has refused to continue the "Snyderverse" despite that being the DCEU that the fans want to see.
 * 7) They have little-to-no care for some of their TV shows and franchises and either do barely anything with them or distribute them very poorly.
 * 8) *For example, Krypto the Superdog has only had its first five episodes (out of the 39 it has, which isn't even a complete season release, by the way) released on DVD on two volumes... which were released all the way back in 2006, and as of this writing, there is no sign of the complete series getting a release on that format, or even a widespread release on streaming, even with the upcoming release of DC League of Super-Pets in May 2022. (yes, the series is on HBO Max Latin America, but even that doesn't make it any better)
 * 9) ** It also doesn't help that both seasons of the series are available on digital storefronts like YouTube in the UK - But overseas in countries like America, only the first season is available, and that no clips of the series are available on any official YouTube channels, including DC ones, owned by Warner Bros, making it very hard for fans of the show and even children to watch it.
 * 10) *Aside from a complete series DVD release in 2015, Road Rovers has had little-to-no attention since it last aired reruns on TV in 2000.
 * 11) *mh:besttvshows:Bunnicula has scarcely gotten much attention since it ended in 2018, and only the first season is available on DVD. Not to mention, it no longer airs on Boomerang as of 2021.
 * 12) *After Legion of Super Heroes had its first season released on DVD in 2009, it took a whopping 11 years for the second season, and therefore the complete series to make it to that format.
 * 13) They overuse a cliché where the main protagonist/anti-hero gets bullied.
 * 14) Some of their movies are pretty bad or at the very least mediocre, like The Swarm, Wonder Woman 1984, Batman and Robin, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Tom & Jerry, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, 10,000 BC, Battlefield Earth, Space Jam: A New Legacy, The Ant Bully and even Catwoman.
 * 15) Like Disney, they sometimes charge absurd prices for their early access rentals on digital storefronts, mainly as a way to get people to buy it instead for a few dollars more, or no extra charge in at least one case, starting with Scoob. Not helping is that these are two-day rentals once the consumer has started the movie. The worst example of this is on the Microsoft Store, where the Tom and Jerry movie once costed the exact same amount to both rent and buy the movie, in a greedy attempt to get people to buy it at no additional cost. Although, it's possible that was an unintentional pricing error, but still.
 * 16) Following the aftermath of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part disappointing at the box office, Warner Bros. expired their film rights with Lego, giving it to Universal Pictures for a new first-look deal. Later in April 2020, the deal with Universal was set for a limited 5-year film deal with Warner Bros. still owning the previous films.
 * 17) DankPods, a famous iPod reviewing YouTuber, bought a Batman MP3 player from around 2012, which was literally a prototype without any electrical components in it. Meaning that, some unfortunate kid would have gotten their hands on it and got a fake MP3 player out of it. In this situation, either Warner purposely tried to pass these half-baked devices off to scam consumers, this is a display model that had to be taken to a counter, or they accidentally sold one to a customer, and then to this YouTuber.
 * 18) A lot of their films try to self promote Warner's own properties (especially DC), which has been happening for decades. They took it way too far with Space Jam: A New Legacy, where the self-promotion in that was literally the entire movie. It's like if WB was too vain enough to see themselves as God.
 * 19) Following the massive box office bombs, they reduced Castle Rock's budget in April 2002. Even so, Castle Rock fired 16 of its 46 employees, and Castle Rock's physical production and public relations departments, back-office duties, and remaining employees were absorbed into Warner Bros., causing it to folding of the label in 2010. Several movies produced afterwards used the Castle Rock name with special permission, specifically movies made by Rob Reiner himself (i.e. LBJ). However, it was, thankfully, revived on October 19, 2021 and will produce films in a first-look deal with Warner Bros., means that many people were happy to see.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Their steaming service, HBO Max, is pretty good.
 * 2) While their business practices are rather scummy, they're still good company, and they still make good or decent films, also from their subsidiaries, New Line Cinema, Warner Animation Group, Castle Rock Entertainment (despite most movie aren't well known) and DC Entertainment.
 * 3) Their collaboration of most of their films with Legendary Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures, are actually great.
 * 4) At least, they tried to make films about book adaptations, such as Dune and Harry Potter series.