More Warner Bros. Shakeups Rumored Because Of Batman V Superman

The next six months could see more management shakeups at Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment, following a disappointing box office year in 2015 and a performance by Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice that didn't live up to company expectations, according to the New York Post.

Longtime superhero producer Charles Roven recently had to step aside, while fan-favorite comic book writer Geoff Johns stepped up to take more control of DC's movies. This comes on the heels of Johns writing DC Universe: Rebirth, which is aimed at righting the ship on DC's print side.

The Post has no DC-specific details, but says production chief Greg Silverman's job is one of those in danger. That would be little surprise to industry insiders; last year, a string of high-profile disappointments left Silverman vulnerable, and it was actually more of a shock when he renewed his contract than it would have been if he had been shown the door.

Marketing and Distribution head Susan Kroll is also reportedly on the chopping block. While it's difficult to lay the blame for many of Warners' recent failures on marketing, there's likely an argument to be made that when you spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million marketing a movie that stars Batman and Superman, the studio is not going to be happy when huge numbers of people go into the film's release month assuming it's going to tank and whispering about bad buzz.

Of course, it's difficult to get at just how credible these rumors are. If they're meant to be in response to a perceived failure of Batman V Superman, the fact that this isn't a "DC shakeup" as such is perhaps a little suspect. Johns's recent promotion was hidden inside of a larger WB restructuring, and so upper-management changes planned for six months out may turn out to be as much a result of that as anything. One way to see how much of it is DC-related might be to track how Suicide Squad performs in two months and see whether that changes anyone's fortunes, for better or worse.