Warner Bros. Just Hired a New President of DC Films and People Are Already Questioning His Credibility

Let's keep it all the way live for just a second: Justice League didn't perform. At the time of this writing, the latest installment of DC's franchise made $651.2 million at the box office worldwide, more than doubling its reported $300 million box office. That's with a 43 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating and becoming the first DC film to pull in less that $100 million at the domestic box office during its opening weekend. Keep in mind, it was estimated to pull in something between $110 and $120 million during its first weekend, and even after adjusting those projections to $95 million, the DC superherofest still only pulled in $93 million.

All of that said, you can't be surprised at reports from early December of 2017 regarding a shake-up at DC Films. At the time, it was said that Jon Berg, who was running the film production arm of the company, would be stepping down, and while Warner Bros. Picture Group President Toby Emmerich told Variety that Berg had expressed six months prior that Berg's "goal was to ultimately be a producer at the studio," the timing felt too tied to the Justice League fiasco.

Earlier today, it was announced that Walter Hamada, who helped New Line score big with horror hits like 2017's It and The Conjuring, was hired as President of DC-based film production at Warner. In a statement about Hamada's hiring, Emmerich called him "creative, resourceful, and committed to excellence, and will bring those qualities to his oversight of our superhero films." The question is, does the public believe that Hamada can bring his expertise at churning out success at the box office to the DC franchise, which in the public's eyes is in dire need of someone to help steer the ship like Kevin Feige has for Marvel?

Mans brings up a great point; while one could argue that DC's all over the place in terms of whatever vision they might have for the DC series, no one is diving into questions of if Hamada is familiar with the source material that's inspired these flicks, although if he hires the right people (maybe he needs his own Feige), he can probably avoid entering the office of what some assume to be a dumpster fire in dire need of extinguishing.

Word is that Hamada was already overseeing the production of Shazam for New Line (which is a part of Warner Bros.), so one has to assume that Emmerich was impressed enough to give Hamada run of the whole ship. And while some question Hamada's pedigree when it comes to superhero films, there is some excitement brewing for his new position and what it could mean for the future of DC films.

Right now, Hamada's real worth can't be measured until the first film under his rule drops. Until then, we just have to wait and see.

Good luck to him; he might be qualified, but this is definitely going to be a challenge, no matter how you slice it.