Warner Media content chief Ann Sarnoff talks new models
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Warner Media content chief Ann Sarnoff talks new models

In an exclusive interview on the Warner Brothers lot, Warner Media content chief Ann Sarnoff talked about her release strategy, ramping up production to serve HBO Max and other buyers, and the future of moviegoing after the pandemic.
15:20
Thu, Aug 5 202112:23 PM EDT

As CEO and chair of Warner Media Studios and Networks, Ann Sarnoff oversees all the content that the media giant makes for its own platforms — from HBO Max, to TB and Adult Swim, to its movie studio and video game — as well as those that it sells to others, such as AppleTV+'s Ted Lasso. Now her division has about 400 production TV productions underway in the US, another 100 happening globally, plus 25 films in production or post-production.

Last December she made the controversial decision to simultaneously distribute the studio's next 18 films, starting with Wonder Woman 1984, in theaters and on HBOMax, for no additional cost to subscribers. The move drew blowback for planning a full year of depressed theatrical results which, now, with the rise of the Delta variant seems prescient. Sarnoff was criticized for failing to inform talent about the change that would impact their payday connected to the box office; the studio addressed that by paying $200 million to buy out the majority of box office bonuses. Her decision to pay those bonuses ahead of films' release stands in contrast to Disney's decision to wait to pay bonuses until after films' theatrical runs, which drew a lawsuit from Scarlett Johansson.

In an exclusive interview on the Warner Brothers lot, Sarnoff talked about her release strategy, ramping up production to serve HBO Max and other buyers, and the future of moviegoing after the pandemic.