Update: Paul Levitz releases his public letter of resignation.
Update: Official Statement from Warner Bros.
The following was published prior to the release of the above statements.
Deadline.com’s Nikki Finke reported Wednesday that DC Comics will undergo a restructuring as parent company Warner Bros. takes a more active interest in the traditionally autonomous comic book publisher.
According to Finke, Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov will make DC his top priority. Reporting directly to Robinov will be Diane Nelson, a WB marketer who most famously managed the Harry Potter franchise for the media giant. It seems she is to do the same for DC Comics. Nelson is familiar with DC Comics from her time at Warner Premiere, the company behind the DC-based direct-to-DVD films released since 2006.
Longtime DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz is to remain in place, reporting to Nelson. He previously reported to Warner Bros. Chairman Alan Horn, whose film division botched the “Watchmen” rights deal with 20th Century Fox, costing the corporation quite a bit of money. Horn has also demonstrated an inability to create film franchises for DC’s biggest icons like Superman, Wonder Woman and the Justice League, and a third Christopher Nolan Batman film is nowhere in sight.
Deadline says these changes have been in the works for more than two years, and that as part of Robinov’s plans for DC, the executive is “calling back” high profile DC properties currently in development with other entities, such as The Flash and Wonder Woman – the latter of which has been in development with producer Joel Silver for ten years.
Developing.
Now discuss this story in CBR's DC Universe forum.
Keywords: dc comics, warner bros., paul levits, jeff robinov, diane nelson