Over the last decade or so I’ve been sensing chilly, corporate vibes from Warner Bros. A kind of top-down, less-personable, Death Star-meets-garrison state attitude. And now, in the wake of a disappointing performance by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, there’s talk about the studio shutting some gates and releasing fewer films. Excerpts from Kim Master‘s 4.6 Hollywood Reporter piece: (a) “Several sources say Warner Bros. executives were convinced they had the goods with BvS and were shocked when negative reviews began pouring in“; (b) “Many top industry executives believe the troubles with BvS are the latest sign of the instability created when Time Warner chairman and CEO Jeff Bewkes promoted Kevin Tsujihara to the top Warners job and created a committee to run the film studio that includes president Greg Silverman and marketing and distribution chief Sue Kroll…it’s fair to say things haven’t gone so well since“; (c) “Several executives and agents say Warners seems to be greenlighting fewer homegrown movies as it focuses on silos (DC Comics, Lego and a planned franchise spun off from the Harry Potter series)”; (d) “Overall, sources say there is an understanding Warners is aiming to release fewer homegrown films…the studio still will make some movies from ‘family’ directors including Ben Affleck, Clint Eastwood, Christopher Nolan and Todd Phillips. But the emphasis is elsewhere.” (e) “A person who does extensive business at WB says ‘they were always filmmaker-driven…that might now not be the case as much…they had a bad 18 months. How could there not be some kind of reaction to that?'”; (f) Nonetheless “the studio says it will release 18 movies this year and is projected to release 19 in 2017.”