Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Entertainment movie studio said Tuesday it is eliminating nearly 800 jobs, or 10 percent of its global work force, and is examining further cost reductions.
The cuts come after the studio posted a 9 percent drop in third-quarter revenue to $2.88 billion, despite the success of the summer blockbuster, “The Dark Knight.” Earlier this month, parent Time Warner said it will post a loss for the full year due to a $25 billion write-down of its assets in cable, magazines and Internet, caused in part by the advertising slowdown.
“Despite the fact that the company performed solidly in 2008, this decision reflects changes necessary for stability and growth going forward,” the studio’s top executives, Chief Executive Barry Meyer and President Alan Horn, told employees in an e-mail Tuesday morning.
“Shifting consumer demand and the overall state of the economy have affected companies around the world, and Warner Bros. is not immune,” they said.
Most of the jobs will come out of the studio’s headquarters in Burbank, Calif., through a mix of layoffs, the elimination of open positions and outsourcing, said spokesman Scott Rowe.
About 300 jobs in information technology and accounting are being outsourced through French company Capgemini and some of the jobs will move to India and Poland. About 100 of those back office positions will be offered to current employees who will continue to be based in Burbank.
Some 300 other people will be laid off and 200 open positions will not be filled.
Warner Bros. said the subsequent cost savings will be substantial but didn’t elaborate. But executives suggested further cuts might be in the offing, noting “We will also continue to review our global operations to make sure we’re operating as efficiently and effectively as possible.”
No decision has been made about the studio’s international operations.
Review: Director/Co-Writer Kyle Hausmann-Stokes’ “My Dead Friend Zoe”
Even for a film titled "My Dead Friend Zoe," the opening scenes of Kyle Hausmann-Stokes' movie have a startling rhythm. First, two female American soldiers are riding in a Humvee in Afghanistan 2016 blasting Rihanna's "Umbrella." They are clearly friends, and more concerned with the music coming through loudly than enemy fire. Zoe (Natalie Morales) tells Merit (Sonequa Martin-Green) tells that if they ever set foot in "some dopy group therapy," to please kill her. Cut to years later, they're sitting in a counseling meeting for veterans and Morales' character has a sour look at her face. She turns to her friend: "Did we survive the dumbest war of all time just to sit here all broken and kumbaya and ouchie-my-feelings?" But after this rush of cavalier soldiering and bitter sarcasm comes a sobering moment. Merit blinks her eyes and is instead staring at an empty chair. Zoe isn't there at all. "My Dead Friend Zoe," co-starring Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris, confronts a dark reality of post-combat struggle with as much humor and playfulness as it does trauma and sorrow. It comes from a real place, and you can tell. Hausmann-Stoke is himself a veteran and "My Dead Friend Zoe" is dedicated to a pair of his platoon mates who killed themselves. The opening titles note the film was "inspired by a true story." Audience disinterest has characterized many, though not all, of the films about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the output has pretty much dried up over the years. "My Dead Friend Zoe" feels like it was made with an awareness of that trend and as a rebuke to it. This is an often breezy and funny movie for what, on paper, is a difficult and dark story. But the comic tone of "My Dead Friend Zoe" is, itself, a spirited rejection to not just the heaviness... Read More