DC’s new head has been found.
Dan Linthe executive producer who counts hits like the live-action Aladdin, the Lego movie, and the It horror movies, is in talks to take on the role of DC chief, multiple sources tell THR.
The role includes overseeing not only film but also television, with Lin reporting directly to David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros., according to sources. Discovery.
The structure bypasses three separate division heads – Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy of Warner Bros. Pictures, Casey Bloys, head of HBO/HBO Max and TV chairman Channing Dungey of Warner Bros. – and puts control of DC in the hands of one person.
Walter Hamada, the current head of DC movies, according to sources, would step out of the role. If a deal closes, it would conclude months of one of the most intense executive searches in recent history, one that has been criticized by rival Hollywood producers and executives, as well as DC fans.
Zaslav has said he was looking for Warners’ own version of Kevin Feige, the famed Marvel executive who steered the rival comic book company’s films and later his TV portfolio into a multi-billion dollar pop culture juggernaut.
That’s an almost impossible question, but it didn’t stop executives’ names from popping up. Emma Watts proved to be an early contender, while in recent months names like Amy Pascal, Matt Tolmach, Sean Bailey and Greg Berlanti were reportedly meeting or being pushed by savvy desk heads.
Lin’s name rose late in the game, but he has a champion in Warner’s advisor Alan Horn, the former Disney chairman who led Warners as president and COO at the time. It was during that last tenure that Lin worked for Horn, starting as a junior executive and growing up to senior VP of production. He only struck as a producer in 2008, but not before making films like the deceased and 10,000 BC He also oversaw the infamous and aborted Justice League feature film allegedly directed by George Miller. (The 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike and the complications of tax credits were factors in the slippage.)
Lin is a respected producer known for his cleverness and, in a city full of hype and egos, his willingness to find experts in the areas that aren’t his forte. He has worked on franchises – Sherlock Holmes’ Robert Downey Jr. acts, the four Lego movies – and on a hugely successful two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s It. His resume ranges from big offers, such as the brightly colored aladdinto intimate dramas, such as the Oscar nominee The Two Popes. It comes from the release of Universal’s Jo Koy comedy in early August, Easter Sunday.
And he also has TV experience, a key factor for the new position. Lin and his manager produced the Deadly Weapon show that aired for three seasons on Fox and hikerthe reboot of Walker, Texas Ranger which will begin its third season on the CW this fall. He and his company are post-production on the ambitious, big-budget live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender for Netflix.
Lin has also shown ambitions off the Hollywood screen. Its banner, Rideback, has a non-profit branch and several initiatives and grants that help BIPOC and emerging entrepreneurs. It’s unclear what would happen to Rideback, but one scenario, according to sources, is that Warner Bros. Discovery would take some interest in the company. Rideback would also continue to operate as a manufacturing entity and be led by current president Jonathan Eirich.
If Lin takes over, he will replace Hamada, who… joined DC in 2018a time when the brand was looking for a reset after Justice League (2017) bombed. Hamada, who had a reputation as an amiable collaborator, kept a much lower profile than Marvel’s Feige, who is the face of the franchise. While rival Marvel Studios has a closely linked universe, DC under Hamada explored some stories that took place in separate universes, including the $1 billion-grossing, Oscar-winning joker (2019) and Matt Reeves’ the batter (2022), which grossed $769.2 million worldwide. Sequels to both are in the works.
Hamada built relationships with talent such as Marvel favorite James Gunn, who directed The Suicide Squad (2021) and created the HBO Max spin-off peacekeeperand has other projects in development at DC.
However, Hamada’s tenure also underscored the public pressure that comes with running DC. For the past two years, Hamada has been the subject of critical tweets from Justice League actor Ray Fisher, who put the director in the unusual position of heading a film department while being publicly criticized by one of its stars. In the summer of 2020, Fisher accused filmmaker Joss Whedon of abusive and unprofessional behavior on the set of 2017 reshoots for Justice League, which Whedon oversaw after director Zack Snyder left. Although Hamada was not in DC during the production of Justice LeagueFisher accused the director of to attempt to throw both Whedon and producer Jon Berg “under the bus” to protect Geoff Johns, another Justice League producer Fisher said Whedon turned on.
Hamada was gearing up to release three or four films a year between theaters and HBO Max when the Warner Bros. merger. Discovery took place. Some see his departure as correct only halfway through his DC course, while other observers believe he didn’t get enough internal support from the previous AT&T regime.
Lin would join DC at a time Zaslav swore Reshaping DC With a ten-year plan, he hopes to enable the brand to compete with Disney-owned Marvel Studios, which has built the largest film franchise in history.
“We’ve reset … We think we can build a much stronger, sustainable growth company out of DC,” Zaslav said in an earnings call on Aug. 4, just two days after he scrapped the $90 million HBO Max batgirl film that Hamada presided over. “We are going to focus on quality. We’re not going to release a movie until it’s ready… DC is something we can improve on.”
—Aaron Couch contributed to this story.