Hollywood studio Warner Bros will cut around 1,000 jobs – more than an eighth of its total worldwide workforce – as it seeks to balance the books following a difficult year.
CEO Kevin Tsujihara aims to cut $200m (£126m) from the studio’s annual budget, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Last month, he told investors the aim was a “leaner” organisation which spends less on marketing.
The cuts are mostly in the studio’s home entertainment real estate, information and technology and finance departments, as opposed to its film or television units. However, analysts point out that Warner has suffered a disappointing summer at the box office compared to its usual rampaging results. Its top film, Godzilla, only just broke the $500m mark worldwide and is the ninth highest-grossing film of 2014, while Warner’s next biggest film, The Lego Movie, pulled in $468m.
Rival studios Twentieth Century Fox and Disney are both ahead in terms of domestic box-office share, while Paramount has the year’s top film: Michael Bay’s $1bn-grossing Transformers: Age of Extinction. However, Warner Bros has the final Hobbit movie, The Battle of Five Armies, hitting cinemas in December, a film which would be expected to add close to $1bn to its total.
Christopher Nolan space drama Interstellar is also expected to score at the box office this weekend, with analysts expecting a US opening in excess of $50m. Nolan’s most recent non-comic book venture, Inception, took $825m globally in 2010.
Last year, Warner was the top-grossing studio with $1.8bn. In July, parent company Time Warner fought off an $80bn takeover bid from Rupert Murdoch-owned rival 21st Century Fox.
