Think back to those bold days of, well, yesterday, when we found out that the Superman movie did a lot better than anyone expected. As it turns out, this is not the end of the plan at entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), but rather the start of a much bigger one. Warner has an entire 10-year plan in the works, and that is bringing hope to investors, who sent shares up modestly in the closing minutes of Tuesday’s trading.
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Warner CEO David Zaslav told Variety that the success of Superman was not a one-off. Rather, it was the start of something much larger, with Warner readying a slate of DC Comics-related properties to follow Superman into the content market. Over the next year, Zaslav detailed, Supergirl and Clayface would make their way to theaters, and the smaller screens would get, among other releases, Lanterns. In fact, we are just a little over a month out from the second season of Peacemaker, which has been hotly anticipated since the release of the first season.
Zaslav gave the slate a ringing endorsement, declaring, “The DC vision is clear, the momentum is real, and I couldn’t be more excited for what’s ahead.” Though some were less than pleased with the final result, things are still looking up. One report gave Superman plenty of credit, but noted some characters were “…left underused as it tried to establish so many stories for the future of the franchise.”
Thinning Out the Woke
In what may be the pendulum swinging the other way on cancel culture, reports noted that Warner actually shut down the “Black Superman” project. This would not be the first time that Superman has been portrayed in such fashion, but it would have been the first such movie to be released. And that seemed like a bridge too far for Warner these days.
Granted, some might accuse Warner of cowardice here. Others instead might note that Warner’s strategy with the DC universe now seems to be a lot more coherent than it once was thanks to James Gunn and Peter Safran’s efforts. So branching off into comparatively minor timelines and characters might work for a series—just check out the animated Creature Commandos release—but for a major tentpole release? That might have been taking too much risk.
Is WBD Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on WBD stock based on 10 Buys and eight Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 50.50% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WBD price target of $13 per share implies 7.84% upside potential.
