Warner Bros., Discovery cut their profit forecasts between $300 million and $500 million for the whole year due “mainly to the impact of the strikes” maintained by the actors’ union and the scriptwriters’ union in the US against the big entertainment companies.
The company expected an ebitda -a financial indicator before reducing taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization- that should range between 11,000 and 11,500 million dollars by 2023 but, according to the new guidance communicated by Warner Bros this Tuesday, it will be between 10,500 and 11,000 million dollars.
“Although Warner Bros. Discovery he is confident that these strikes will be resolved soon, he cannot predict when they will finally end. With both unions still on strike today, the company now assumes that the financial impact will persist until the end of 2023,” the company specified in updating its expectations for this year.
Nevertheless, “Barbie“, the box office phenomenon of the year with a turnover of 1,400 million dollars worldwide, and the reduction of investments in the production of films and shows will allow to increase the free cash flow to at least 5,000 million dollars, according to the report from Warner Bros. Discovery.
The company also highlighted this Tuesday that they will continue working to resolve “in a fair way” the Hollywood Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) strikes and the Writers Guild (WGA), and that they would modify their forecasts if the strikes ended.
SAG-AFTRA joined the pickets initiated by the WGA on July 14 more than two months earlier against the Alliance of American Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in a joint strike blocking the US entertainment industry that has, to date, shown little sign of resolution.
A context of uncertainty that joins the massive layoffs perpetrated by large entertainment companies such as itself Warner Bros. Discoverywhich concluded a total cut of 7,000 employees at the end of May, as a measure to restore “financial balance.”
Warner Bros is preparing to face a huge financial loss from the Hollywood strikes, despite the huge success of Barbie. A recent report from The Hollywood Reporter indicates that Warner Bros. could lose up to 500 million dollars (8.7 thousand million pesos) in 2023 due to the strikes in Hollywood.
In fact, the losses could be greater if it weren’t for the unexpected success of Barbie worldwide, which has somewhat mitigated the studio’s situation.
Hollywood actors strike delays
Marvel has updated its release calendar, and yes, ‘Agatha: Darkhold Diaries’ or ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ are among the series that move their release date to later. However, those two are not the only ones, X-Men 97, Ironheart, Echo and Wonder Man are also affected, some of them are even delayed indefinitely.
Since last July 14, SAG-AFTRA, the US trade union which represents thousands of actors, asked its members not to do any type of promotion—this includes interviews, tours, appearances on shows, conventions, awards shows, and festivals.
Some of the biggest productions that will continue during the strike are the fantasy black comedy Death of a Unicorn starring Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd and the music industry drama Mother Mary starring Michaela Coel, Anne Hathaway and Hunter Schafer.
Both films will be A24 releases. Other projects include a thriller from Matthew McConaughey, an action comedy from Rebel Wilson and the Mildred Burke wrestling biopic Queen of the Ring.
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