Actually, Dan Lin won’t be the “Kevin Feige” for Warner Bros. Discovery’s DC superhero movies
The studio's search for someone who can come in and fix everything will continue
As it stands now, Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav’s plan for the future of his new double-company involves two big pillars: Destroy HBO Max in a way that somehow makes money and revitalize the DC superhero movies so they’re at least a cohesive brand like Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (but, like, in a different way from what Zack Snyder was doing). Accomplishing the former means clicking on various movies and TV shows that are on HBO Max and dragging them into the recycling bin, and accomplishing the latter—apparently—means finding a Kevin Feige-type to run the DC movies. Well, that and permanently putting Batgirl on a shelf, jeopardizing the studio’s relationship with actors, creators, and fans… but in a way that somehow makes money.
We heard a few weeks ago that It, Sherlock Holmes, and The Lego Movie producer Dan Lin was Warner Bros. Discovery’s top choice for the Kevin Feige position (or “DC chief,” or whatever job title they’re going to use), but now Variety says that “sources familiar with the situation” have confirmed that Lin will not be taking the job. The report says that he wanted Warner Bros. Discovery to buy a stake in Rideback, his production company, and allow him to continue working there and Kevin Feige-ing the DC movies, but the two parties couldn’t agree to terms and they all “agreed to part ways.”
Variety says that WBD has “no immediate urgency to fill the job,” which seems uncharacteristically shortsighted for this company (that’s sarcasm, by the way), but there isn’t a ton going on with current DC movies at the moment anyway. Walter Hamada, the current head of the DC movies, will stick around until Black Adam comes out, at which point he will presumably march out of the Warner Bros. Discovery offices while flipping everybody off, and then Warner Bros. studio heads Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy will be in charge of the DC movies. They’ll oversee the release of the few movies still on the calendar, like the Shazam! and Aquaman sequels, plus whatever’s going to happen with The Flash and that Blue Beetle movie that is supposedly still happening.