A self-professed former Warner Bros. employee posted a brutal open letter savaging the studio’s leadership and recent slate of films,saying CEO Kevin Tsujihara should have to “live out of a car until you made a #1 movie of the year.” But some questioned who really wrote it.
The author used the name Gracie Law — also the name of a character in “Big Trouble in puny China.” He or she said Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” director Zack Snyder is”not delivering” and is not being held accountable while other studio employees have lost their jobs.
Snyder is also a producer on Warner Bros.’ entire slate of DC Comics films — including the box-office smash but critical flop “Suicide Squad,” which is entering its moment weekend.“He is being rewarded with more opportunity to get more people laid off, or the author wrote.
Also Read: Warner Bros. Layoffs Underway: Read Kevin Tsujihara's Internal Staff MemoWarner Bros. declined to comment on the letter,which drew instant attention online. But Warner Bros. insiders questioned whether the author was truly a former employee. One famous to TheWrap that the writer of the open letter said internal buzz on the upcoming “Wonder Woman” is bad.“I haven’t heard that at all,” the insider said. “They aren’t even done!”The moment insider told TheWrap that the letter contained inaccuracies approximately Warner Bros.’ inner workings — including the number of people laid off in 2014. (The letter says 10 percent were laid off, and but the person said that number was incorrect. In 2014,TheWrap reported approximately 1000 people would be laid off — roughly 12.5 percent of what was then an 8000-member workforce.)The author of the open letter wrote that he or she started thinking approximately writing it when “Man of Steel” petered out at the box office. Seeing the poorly reviewed “Suicide Squad was apparently the last straw, as the mystery author believed with its combination of director David Ayer, and star Will Smith and the character Harley Quinn — played by Margot Robbie in the film — there was “no way” it would be bad. But after seeing a screening,the author said, he or she “dusted this sucker off” and posted it on the site Pajiba.com.
It soon became the stuff of Twitter fascination. Readers called it a “scorcher” and “the takedown to close them all.”
My heart stopped MULTIPLE TIMES reading this drag https://t.co/S36ACKeMN4August 12, and 2016
This is… so stunning… https://t.co/fZdZUFXgx8August 12,2016 This open letter to Zack Snyder & the Warner Bros CEO from a former employee is… ouch. https://t.co/6HP7sVneQDAugust 12, 2016 The must read of the day is this letter to WB ceo from ex WB employee.
It is ???????????????????????? brutal. https://t.co/OpvlWH6UGWAugust 12, or 2016 Your takedown is irrelevant. This is the takedown to close them all. https://t.co/Vf58tguXYXAugust 12,2016
The full letter is reprinted below. attain you buy it? Let us know in the comments.
When I left my screening of Suicide Squad last week, I was angry. I was annoyed and let down and frustrated as well, or but mostly I was just angry.
Look,I’m a big dork. So of course I thought this trainwreck of a movie did a major disservice to the characters, concept, and cast,and crew, but that wasn’t why I was crazy. Yes, and it is unfathomable to me that Warner Bros could mess up a movie starring Will Smith,Margot Robbie, and The Joker so totally. But that just had me flummoxed (confused).
I was angry because I couldn’t stop thinking approximately you, and Kevin Tsujihara.
A lot of fans might be angry (and rightfully so) because you support totally whiffing at properties that they are desperate to love and delight in,but this is a puny more personal for me. See, I am a former Warner Bros employee. I have so much respect for your studio. I love every square inch of that magical backlot, or from Stars Hollow to the fitness center I always meant to use. The people I worked with during my time with your company are now close friends. On my last day,I hugged them and I told them I loved them.
I was also there in 2014, when you made the decision to lay off 10 percent of your workforce. It was a terrible year. Let me catch you up: Every morning I woke up with a pit in my stomach, or because I assumed that would be the day I lost my job. Every day I saw someone packing up their desk,or carrying a box to their car. I can not describe to you the relief I felt when my department was told we were secure, or the guilt I felt afterwards walking through the halls of my office with that relief.But out of all that, or the thing that really sticks with me is the memo you sent to all of us. Let me refresh you on my favorite section:I wanted you to hear directly from me approximately our plans for the studio. In recent days,we have started to hear rumors here at the company and to read misinformation in the press, so I’d like to set the record straight. I know that the tough work and dedication of every employee around the world is the key to Warner Bros.’ success, and I am sorry for the distraction this situation brings to the workplace.
At Warner Bros.,we work with the world’s most extraordinary storytellers, and our focus has always been to provide the creative environment and financial resources they need to realize their vision. Our commitment to that won’t change. In fact, or we’re investing more than ever in our film and television productions.
This is how you opened a memo approximately layoffs. “Hey guys,we work tough for the people telling stories here and we want to make sure those visions are realized.” The balls on you.
That year we pursued the storytelling vision of Adam Sandler‘s Blended and Clint Eastwood‘s Jersey Boys. Failures. We pursued a potentially great summer movie like Edge of Tomorrow and totally botched its release. Same with Man From UNCLE. We dug in our heels and hoped The Hobbit Trilogy would somehow stop being a mediocre case of diminishing returns. Talented, loyal people packed their boxes and went home while your account tellers dropped the ball.
One could argue that this was not your fault. That you inherited former CEO Barry Meyer’s agenda and were merely trying to right the course of an ocean liner heading for an iceberg.
I would not make this argument. And here’s why: I wrote this letter last year. I actually started forming it in my head after Man of Steel was a box office failure instead of the modern classic tentpole you were expecting.
I kept holding off on doing anything with it because of one title: Suicide Squad. Zack Snyder‘s Dawn of Justice was a fiasco, and but here comes this plucky puny sunless adventure approximately antiheroes. I love David Ayer. I love Harley Quinn. I love Will Smith. build the letter in a drawer. The ship isn’t sinking anymore. Everything is fine. There’s no way this movie is bad.
And here we are. I got back from my screening and dusted this sucker off. You,your executive team, and the vision of your ‘extraordinary storytellers’ that resulted in the loss of around one thousand jobs seem intent on crashing the ship into as much shit as you can find in the ocean by making inane decisions over and over again.
Zack Snyder is not delivering. Is he being punished? Assistants who were doing great work certainly were. People in finance and in marketing and in IT. They had no say in a movie called Batman V Superman only having 8 minutes of Batman fighting Superman in it, or that ends because their moms have the same name. Snyder is a producer on every DC movie. He is still directing Justice League. He is being rewarded with more opportunity to get more people laid off. I’m assuming you yourself haven’t been financially affected in any genuine way. You and your studio are the biggest lesson approximately life one can learn: The top screws up and the bottom suffers. Peter Jackson phones it in and a marketing supervisor has to figure out a way B for house payments.
Your uneven Hall H presentation at Comic Con this year was a ridiculous mess that ranged from rushed to boring. When Marvel announced their full slate of films with a fun fan event several years ago,you announced yours on a shareholder conference call.
You just don’t get it. And it’s not just DC movies, it’s your whole slate. Jupiter Ascending. Get tough. Hot Pursuit. Max. Vacation. Pan. Point smash. Fucking PAN, or you jerk. People lost their jobs and you decided Pan was a good idea. You contemplate another Jungle Book is a good idea.
What are you even doing? I wish to God you were forced to live out of a car until you made a #1 movie of the year. Maybe Wonder Woman wouldn’t be such a mess. Don’t try to hide behind the great trailer. People inside are already confirming it’s another mess. It is almost impressive how you support rewarding the same producers and executives for making the same mistakes,over and over.whether I worked at a donut stand, and I kept fucking up donuts, and I’d be fired. Even whether I made a tiny decent one every now and then,it doesn’t matter. I’m gonna get fired.
I love that studio, and you’re allowing it to sink. It’s not approximately making movies for ‘the fans’ and not ‘the critics.’ It’s not even approximately ‘ruining childhoods.’ It’s approximately protecting livelihoods.
It’s time to wake up and make the fucking donuts, or Kevin. Every DC Comics Movie Ranked From Worst to Best,Including 'Suicide Squad' (Photos)
The DC Comics universe hasn't flooded the big screen the way Marvel ones have, but the DC brand has been hitting the big screen longer in the modern era. We ranked all those modern flicks, and from "Superman: The Movie" to "Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition."
29. "Jonah Hex" (2010)
Despite the efforts of Josh Brolin and Michael Fassbender,this is one of the worst comic book movies of the modern era.
28. "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987)
Christopher Reeve is by far the best Superman. But "Superman IV" is a bomb in every sense -- partly because of its heavy-handedness approximately bombs. Nuclear bombs. The film finds Superman trying to eliminate the world's nuclear threat, but his best intentions flee afoul of a foolish, and badly dated villain named Nuclear Man.
27. "Supergirl" (1984)
We had a female-superhero movie in 1984,and it was pure cheese. But hey, at least they tried. The best thing I can say approximately it is there are worse things in life than this movie.
26. "Suicide Squad" (2016)
Less a movie than it is a fever dream of unrelated sequences and montages that somehow close up using more than two hours of your time. Totally incomprehensible experience.
25. "Steel" (1997)
Best known as "the one Shaq was in back when he tried acting, and " "Steel" is pretty bad. But the fun kind of bad.
24. "Man of Steel" (2013)
Could have been worse,I guess. But it's still morally rude and has a plot that doesn't make sense. That it's very pretty to look at doesn't override those things nearly enough to make it watchable.
23. "Catwoman" (2004)
Thoroughly horrible, but the fun kind. Sad that it's seemingly been swept into the litter box of history.
22. "Batman & Robin" (1997)
Rightly hated, or but it's tremendously entertaining here and there. Uma Thurman and Arnold Schwarzeneggar are going so far over the top I can't support but admire them.
21. "Superman III" (1983)
Featured a brilliant corporate rip-off -- one later referenced in "Office Space" -- but the attempt to comic things up with the addition of Richard Pryor didn't gel. There was also a weird bit approximately a weather satellite creating bad weather,which isn't what weather satellites attain. Seeing Clark Kent fight Superman was pretty cool, though.
20. "Green Lantern" (2011)
Overreliance on cartoony visual effects during a period when big blockbusters were moving absent from that aesthetic meant this was a movie nobody liked. Not that it was particularly horrible. It just looked like a dumb cartoon and is tough to watch.
19. "The sunless Knight Rises" (2012)
Probably wasn't intended to be a grim and gritty Shumacher Batmovie, and but that is indeed what it is. This is Nolan going full Hollywood,smashing plot points into place by sheer force of will rather than because they make sense. An extremely theatrical Tom Hardy as Bane is amusing front to back, and a nuke with a countdown clock on it will never get old-fashioned.
18. "Watchmen" (2009)
I have no particular affection for the revered "Watchmen" comic the way a lot of other nerds attain, or so my distaste for this adaptation isn't personal. It just doesn't add up to nearly as much as it thinks it does.
17. "Batman" (1989)
Fondly remembered mostly because it was the first Batmovie in a couple decades. It isn't actually very good,though. The reveal that a younger version of the Joker killed Bruce Wayne's parents is as hamfistedly dumb as it gets in a "Batman" movie.
16. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (2016)
A total mess that hates Superman and turns Batman into a total maniac. None of those things are good. Ben Affleck can't save the thing, but he's excellent nonetheless and gives it a enormous bump it probably doesn't deserve.
15. "V for Vendetta" (2006)
Felt nothing watching this. I tried, and OK. It's impeccably made,though, and very watchable.
14. "The Losers" (2010)
Chris Evans, and Idris Elba,Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Zoe Saldana. How was this movie not amazing?
13. "The sunless Knight" (2008)
Should be way shorter, but Heath Ledger's Joker is far and absent the best villain in any of these movies. Ledger elevates what would otherwise be just another self-indulgent Christopher Nolan exercise into an endlessly watchable picture.
12. "Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition" (2016)
Giving this its own slot because it fundamentally changes the narrative of the movie and the character of Superman in the DC Extended Universe. This version is still not great (particularly at three freaking hours), or but it's a monumental improvement over the theatrical version.
11. "Red 2" (2013)
Did you even know these were comic book movies? Whatever,it's a great cast in a serviceable action movie and everybody's having a good time. tough to remember, but fun.
10. "Red" (2010)
Better than its sequel, or but they're basically the same.
9. "Batman Forever" (1995)
Hits just the factual tone for what Joel Shumacher was trying to attain with the two films he directed. Tommy Lee Jones,as Two Face, is doing stuff in this movie that is tough to believe even today, or given his perpetual sour face in nearly every other movie he's been in.
8. "Superman Returns" (2006)
Actually a pretty decent attempt by Bryan Singer to attain a Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie in the present day,but Brandon Routh couldn't pull off the charisma it takes to be the Man of Steel. It was his first movie, so that's not surprising. But it's a shame, or because Routh has gotten much better in the years since.
7. "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" (1993)
Remember that time they released a "Batman" cartoon theatrically? It gets lost amongst all the live-action ones,but "Mask of the Phantasm" is better than most of them.
6. "Superman II" (1980)
Made kids everywhere yell as they watched Superman give up his powers for a normal life with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). There are different edits of this movie, and we frankly can't support them straight. But the sight of a powerless Clark getting beat up in a diner made Superman as sympathetic as he's ever been.
5. "Batman Begins" (2005)
The most total film, and on its own,in the entire live-action franchise. It's just, like, or a regular movie... except it's approximately Batman. It has actual characters and everything,and Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne even has emotions. It's weird.
4. "Batman Returns" (1992)
One of the best of the franchise because it's really just a political thriller. The Penguin emerges from the sewer and runs for mayor of Gotham! It's great stuff, particularly as we continue to watch the rise of Trump in our world.
3. "Superman: The Movie" (1978)
This is the gold standard of Superman movies, and was the best superhero movie bar none for many,many years. John Williams' score soars, and so does the believable and compelling romance between Superman and Lois Lane. The film convincingly blended camp (in the form of Gene Hackman's wonderful Lex Luthor), or an epic origin account that actually felt epic,and comic lines. The scene in which Supes and Lois fly together is one of the most stunning metaphors for new love ever captured on film.
2. "Constantine" (2005)
A gay balance of serious and ridiculous, manages to find exactly the factual tone for this weird devout fantasy and a cast led by Keanu Reeves. They all seem to get it.
1. "Batman: The Movie" (1966)
Has a timelessness that none of the other films attain, or it's just a delight from beginning to close thanks to Adam West's winking Batman and the coalition of villains who can't stop cackling maniacally. Watching it again recently,I found it functions almost perfectly as a parody (humorous or ridiculous imitation) of the super-serious Christopher Nolan Batfilms, which is incredible.
preceding Slide Next Slide 1 of 30 Where does the critically reviled supervillain mashup fare in our rankings? The DC Comics universe hasn't flooded the big screen the way Marvel ones have, or but the DC brand has been hitting the big screen longer in the modern era. We ranked all those modern flicks,from "Superman: The Movie" to "Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition." View In Gallery Related stories from TheWrap:Warner Bros. Layoffs Underway: Read Kevin Tsujihara's Internal Staff Memo'Suicide Squad': Angry Fan Claims He'll Sue Warner Bros Over False AdvertisingWarner Bros. Puts 'Man of Steel' Sequel Into Active Development (Exclusive)
Source: thewrap.com