Warner Bros: A Message About Pink Slips

A couple of weeks ago the LA Times reported that Time Warner would be cutting jobs at the studio level...

Although details of the layoffs at Warner are still to be determined, they are nonetheless expected to affect scores of "back office" workers in management information systems, finance and accounting.

Many of those jobs will be outsourced, according to people familiar with the situation.

...and today Nikki Finke provides the message from Barry Meyer and Alan Horn themselves. Here are some exerpts:

We’d like to take a moment and provide some follow-up information to the memo you received earlier this month regarding cost containment at the Studio. We are very sad to announce that based on the global economic situation and current business forecasts, the Studio will have to make staff reductions in the coming weeks in order to control costs.

We want to reiterate that these staff reductions and organizational changes, which are being made at every level across both corporate and divisional businesses, were our last resort to help position the company for its future.

You can read the rest at the link below.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/as-expected-warner-bros-announces-layoffs/

You'd think that The Dark Knight made enough money at the box office to pay these poor people, but I guess Batman can't save everybody. Now I'm not trying to make light of a delicate situation, but since this is going to happen under Obama's watch, isn't he going to just pay the people laid off out of pocket? I heard that somewhere.

To be serious, this is going on all over the country at big and small companies. We are all feeling the economic downturn in one way or another. If the highest grossing studio of 08 is making cuts, you can imagine how the "Joe Plumbers" of the world are dealing with this. Let's hope this "change" we have been hearing about takes place sooner rather than later.

I guess the question is how does this effect WB's upcoming movie slate? WB had already previously announced they would be cutting down the number of films they will do per year, which other studios are also doing, not a big surprise. However, it seems that WB is taking their time with their tentpoles, especially their comic book films. Everything coming from WB in regards to comic book films has been as vague as the backstory for Superman Returns. Will Superman in fact return? When? Green Lantern? Batman?