DC Films was apparently in desperate need of a pathfinder, and Warner Bros. clearly feels that they found the right man for the job.
Justice League’s opening weekend numbers were so disappointing that we forecast a major shakeup for DC Films. That appeared to be even more likely last month, when a report suggested that Jon Berg stepped down from overseeing the big-screen DC Comics adaptations.
Most recently, The Hollywood Reporter shared that Warner Bros. appointed executive producer Walter Hamada (The Conjuring film series and the movie It) as their new president of DC Films. Hamada will work "closely" with Geoff Johns, who used to be Berg’s partner in running the banner, and remains DC Entertainment’s president and chief creative officer.
Hamada was a New Line Cinema production executive for around a decade. At one time, New Line was headed by Toby Emmerich, who’s currently president and chief content officer at Warner Bros. The two already had a close relationship, but the Hollywood Reporter’s sources suggested that Emmerich was particularly impressed with Hamada's work on Shazam!, which will be the next DC superhero project to enter production. Johns tweeted his opinion, as well:
Welcome aboard, Walter!! Thrilled to be working with you! It's been a blast on Shazam! Now it's off to the rest of the DCU! (And get a twitter account!) https://t.co/qAGAWzWxWP
"” Geoff Johns (@geoffjohns) January 4, 2018
The following is Emmerich’s official statement about Walter Hamada’s new post:
Walter is creative, resourceful, and committed to excellence, and will bring those qualities to his oversight of our superhero films. He's a terrific production executive, and served as an executive producer on two of the summer's most popular films, New Line's It and Annabelle: Creation. I'm confident that Walter and Geoff, working with our filmmaking partners, will deliver films that will resonate with both broad global audiences and DC fanboys and fangirls. Walter's a great addition to the Warner Bros. Pictures team, and I look forward to working with him in his new post.
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