English Entertainment
‘Star Wars’ propels Disney’s 2015 global box office to $5 billion
MUMBAI: With final numbers now in, Star Wars: The Force Awakens rose above estimates to post an all-time industry-high $248 million in North America plus $281 million internationally for an all-time record global debut of $529 million since opening day-and-date 16 December. This excludes any grosses from China, where the film opens 9 January, as well as Greece and India, where it opens this week.
Domestically, Disney now holds four of the top five debuts of all time. In addition to posting the biggest Thursday preview gross ($57 million) and the biggest Friday and single-day ever ($119.1 million), Star Wars: The Force Awakens set a new Sunday record of $60.5 million. Internationally, it was the biggest opening weekend ever in numerous territories including the U.K. (four-day), Australia, Russia, and Germany.
Yesterday, Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn said of the historic debut, “Our sole focus has been creating a film that delivers that one-of-a-kind Star Wars experience, and director J.J. Abrams, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy and the Lucasfilm team have outdone themselves. To all of the fans around the world who not only came out in Force to make this such an exciting and astronomical debut but who treated this film as their own and helped preserve the experience for their fellow fans by not spoiling it—thank you, we do.”
Company Box Office Milestones Reached:
The galactic debut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has pushed The Walt Disney Studios to its highest year on record. Today, Disney will cross the $5 billion mark in global box office in a calendar year for the first time ever, surpassing the previous full-year record of $4.73 billion set in 2013. The studio has also reached new highs domestically with $1.851 billion and internationally with $3.134 billion through 20 December. The previous best for each was also set in 2013 with $1.719 billion domestic and $3.013 billion international.
These 2015 milestones were reached with outstanding performances from films across Disney’s brands, including Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron ($459 million domestic; $946 million int’l; $1.4 billion global), Disney• Pixar’sInside Out ($356.4 million domestic; $499 million int’l; $855.4 million global), Disney’s Cinderella ($201.1 million domestic; $341.4 million int’l; $542.5 million global), Marvel’s Ant-Man ($180.1 million domestic; $339 million int’l; $519.1 million global), as well as Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 2014 release Big Hero 6 ($305 million globally during the 2015 calendar year).
English Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders approve Paramount deal
Investors wave through a $111 billion megamerger but deliver a stinging, if toothless, rebuke over half-a-billion-dollar goodbye packages
NEW YORK: The shareholders said yes to the deal. They said no to the cheque. At a virtual special meeting on Thursday that lasted barely ten minutes, Warner Bros. Discovery investors voted overwhelmingly to approve Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of the company — and then turned around and voted against the lavish exit pay packages lined up for chief executive David Zaslav and his fellow outgoing executives.
Not that it will make much difference. The compensation vote is purely advisory and non-binding. The Warner Bros. Discovery board can, and almost certainly will, pay out as planned.
But the symbolism stings. It is the second consecutive year that WBD shareholders have voted against the executive compensation packages, and this time they had good reason. Zaslav’s exit deal is, by any measure, extraordinary. Under the terms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he is set to receive $34.2 million in cash severance, $517.2 million in equity in the combined company, and $44,195 in continued health coverage — a total of at least $550 million. On top of that, Warner Bros. Discovery has agreed to reimburse Zaslav up to $335 million for taxes assessed by the Internal Revenue Service on his accelerated stock vesting, though the company says that figure will decline depending on when the deal closes. As of March 11, Zaslav also held $115.85 million in vested WBD stock awards — and last month sold a further $114 million worth of WBD shares.
Shareholder advisory firm ISS recommended voting against the compensation measure, citing “problematic” tax reimbursements to Zaslav and the full vesting of his stock awards.
Zaslav will be bound by a two-year non-competition covenant and a two-year non-solicitation of customers and employees after the deal closes.
His lieutenants are not walking away empty-handed either. J.B. Perrette, chief executive and president of global streaming and games, is in line for $142 million, comprising $18.2 million in cash severance and $123.9 million in equity. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer, will receive an estimated $121.5 million, including $18.8 million in severance and $102.7 million in equity. Chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels is set for $120 million, made up of $6.6 million in cash severance and $113.1 million in equity. Gerhard Zeiler, president of international, will get $82.6 million, including $11.9 million in severance and $70.7 million in equity.
The deal itself, clinched in February after Netflix declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros., still needs regulatory clearance from the Justice Department and European authorities. Several state attorneys general are also weighing legal action to block it.
Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, was unsparing. “The Paramount-Warner Bros. merger isn’t a done deal,” she said after the shareholder vote. “State attorneys general across the country are stepping up to stop this antitrust disaster. We need to keep up this fight.”
If it does go through, the combined entity would be a formidable beast, bringing together Paramount Skydance’s stable — CBS, CBS News, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, BET, MTV and Nickelodeon — with WBD’s portfolio of HBO, Max, Warner Bros. film and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. Paramount has said it expects $6 billion in cost savings from the merger, which is Wall Street shorthand for mass layoffs on a significant scale.
The ten-minute meeting was presided over by chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr., with Zaslav, Campbell, Wiedenfels and chief communications officer Robert Gibbs in virtual attendance. Di Piazza was bullish. “We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio,” he said. “With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community.”
Zaslav echoed the sentiment. “Over the past four years, our teams have transformed Warner Bros. Discovery and returned the company to industry leadership,” he said. “Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders.”
Paramount Skydance struck a similar note. “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,” it said in a statement, adding that it looked forward to “closing the transaction in the coming months.”
The shareholders have spoken on the merger. On the pay, they were ignored before the vote was even counted.
