Iron Spike: Why work with WBD? Why become part of this system at all? Maybe David Zaslav is here exclusively for the profit/loss spreadsheets, but most people in Hollywood don't wake up every day hoping years of their labor disappears for a tax break, never to see the light of day.

In case you haven't kept up with the news: The film "Coyote v. ACME" is now almost certainly gone forever, part of an over $100 million tax write-off for Warner Brothers Discovery. Details here, including behind-the-scenes shots and a beat-by-beat plot breakdown. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN2o...

Coyote vs. Acme Might Be Lost Foreverwww.youtube.com Just when we thought we were safe! It looks like WB has quietly deleted Coyote vs. Acme in exchange for a 30 million dollar tax write-off. Effectively creating Lost Media, but is it lost forever? In this video I'll breakdown everything we know about Coyote vs. Acme to get a better idea what this movie might look like and talk about how it might be leaked online. #warnerbros #looneytunes #lostmedia

I just... can't get over the moral indefensibility of this. A critic who screened the film called it "The best of its kind since Roger Rabbit." Buyers were interested. James Gunn was a producer/assisted on story. And that still wasn't enough. If THAT can't keep you safe, what's the fucking point?

Why work with WBD? Why become part of this system at all? Maybe David Zaslav is here exclusively for the profit/loss spreadsheets, but most people in Hollywood don't wake up every day hoping years of their labor disappears for a tax break, never to see the light of day.

It shouldn't be more profitable to destroy art than to give it to the world.

All we can hope now is some idealistic production assistant smuggled the movie out on a flash drive, and it's in a shoebox under their bed while they figure out how to get it on The Pirate Bay without being traced. It's not impossible. But people said the same thing about Batgirl. No sign of that.

Hollywood is fucking broken.

It's not even profitable to do this! He just wants a tax break for not making money on it and for some reason this works? Hell I didn't release a movie last year either, can I have a billion dollars?

He's likely pairing losses against all the money they made on Barbie. Which is probably why he accelerated the writing off of things. So it isn't profitable, but he gets money back anyway. Yeah, it is evil.

He isn't even getting the money back from production costs. It's just a full on loss period! It's so cool that even though the FTC is allegedly investigating this, no regulatory body has any teeth to at least stay their hand.

I don’t get it. Like surely a tax write off is never worth more than the tax you would’ve paid on the same amount of profits? So you’re better off making some money than none.

Long-term, yes. But refusing to release the film means they can deduct all the expenses related to the film immediately, instead of spreading the dedication over several years. Basically, they're trying to make the company look profitable in the short-term at the expense of long-term profits.

i am so angry about this capitalism is not even good at doing the things capitalists say it's good at

LeT tHE mArKEt DecIdE

The stupid part? I think "the market" would make good decisions Except that 90 percent of "the market" is just ten guys with all the money And they're dumb

I mean this isn’t capitalism, it’s some insane perverse incentives created by the US tax system. If it weren’t designed to enable exactly this outcome, capitalism would encourage releasing this movie so long makes more money than the costs of distribution - even if that means straight to streaming.

i full heartedly believe they main reason they are so intent on destroying it is because if the movie came out and it was Successfully it would make them look bad for all the fort they put on destroying it on the first place with is why i hope this movie leaks

fuck me i cannot type today to save my skull, sorry about that

Also what’s even shittier about all this is that even getting released isn’t a defense They wrote off and got rid of westworld! A premium show that had four seasons! You shouldn’t get a tax write off for that!

Beyond that, do they really think this movie would have generated less than 30 millions, or less than 100 millions? It's Tex Avery cartoon, it's multi-generational, it was a sure hit to the bank. they say that money rule everything, but I think pettiness can sometimes plays a bigger role.

Like I am certain that the WB CEO decided this movie would be scrammed anyway, simply because everyone shouted to him that he was wrong. A pure middle-finger attitude toward everyone who dared to show him he had eggs on his face.

Corporate taxation is fucking broken too, this is like a perfect storm.

Evergreen skeet

You'd think it would've turned up on the usual torrent sites by now, but no, it hasn't. :(

I'm hoping for a Roger Corman's Fantastic Four situation, where the movie just Escapes somehow.

Hey, speaking of which: bsky.app/profile/susi...

The '94 Dr. Doom is an old friend of mine, and I know he'd get a huge kick out of the film being re-released. And I think it would be a hoot to see it, personally. If you do, too, why not sign this petition? Even if it doesn't work, I'd love for Joe to see lots of signatures.

Have you seen this petition yet?chng.it WATCH THE F4 '94 PETITION PROMO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgGo3JVcSOg PETITION - RELEASE THE 1994 FANTASTIC FOUR MOVIE #releasefantasticfour94 Devoted fans of Marvel's Fantastic Four ha...

I bet there's a mostly finished version on a hard drive or something that everyone "forgot"

Maybe it's there somewhere waiting the right time to be unveiled (hopefully).

Hollywood is corrupt for a single, incurable reason The value of art being fungible allows for it If the IRS got involved in art valuation for tax purposes (or if, say, they actually audited the rich) Hollywood would suddenly become much more profitable Because the shell games would end

Seen some suggestions that any film/show/etc written off for taxes should immediately be released into public domain. (Obvs possible issues about royalties, etc for those who worked on it, but at least folks would get to see it)

Not just released to the public domain, but must also be made reasonably accessible to the public at no charge.

That any business currently finds it more profitable to dodge contracted payment to workers and destroy products (including Boeing's destruction through incompetence) feels like a severe failure to reign in deregulated capitalism, especially post-Reagan.

I keep crossing my fingers that the government wisens up to this and adjusts these laws so that by the time WBD goes to receive their tax break, they get hit with a massive fine instead. There's zero chance of that actually happening, but a man can dream.

It probably isn't. Unless they really believed that it would only do $36 million in gross ticket sales, this was a financial mistake. This kind of waste should trigger shareholders into selling or pushing to get rid of Zaslav.

At the absolute least, the government should own the film and have the opportunity to auction it off to recoup the losses. As the public, we're paying for it either way.

A-fuckin-men

Couldn't sell it for 80k so instead of accepting a lower price he'd rather delete it for 30k than let the peons have it. Capitalism!

I think anything written off as a tax loss should automatically be public domain

Or at the very least there should be an option for the artists involved to acquire the rights to the property.

I do wonder how done they are. Maybe some people who are new and don't have other options will take their money, but anyone who has a choice surely cannot trust them until Zaslav is well gone.

Tom Cruise signed a development deal with WBD last year, arguably the actor with the greatest amount of choice in Hollywood. Until the power players really wise up or find that deals with WBD aren't personally beneficial, Zaslav is safe in his seat.

Honestly, I think Zaslav is sabotaging the company so he can sell it.

I've read pitches have started to dry up, but they've got enough institutional momentum that until they burn some bigger names, they can coast for an unreasonably long time on their bad decisions, as is almost Warner tradition from the Time merger onward. It never has to function well, just drift.

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