Mere days into the new year, Warner Bros. has announced that Walter Hamada will be appointed to the position of President, DC-based film production. As an executive behind such critically-acclaimed hits as THE CONJURING and IT, Hamada will take the place of Jon Berg, Warner Bros.’s co-president of production, who left the studio back in December. Since his departure, Berg has become a partner at Vertigo, the production label orchestrated by producer Roy Lee.
As per his new position, Hamada will focus down on Warner's slate of upcoming films centered on superheroes and villains, in addition to projects based on other characters and stories hailing from the pages of DC Comics. Those who know of Hamada's close-working relationship with Toby Emmerich, Warners’ president and chief content officer, will find the decision to appoint the producer as no surprise. As one part of the duo known as "Team Genre," Hamada and New Line's Dave Neustadter have spearheaded the billion dollar-grossing Conjuring franchise, in addition to several other successful horror projects presented by the studio. With any luck, Hamada will usher the DCU into a bold new era, after applying his expertise to the company's upcoming films.
In talking about Hamada coming aboard, Emmerich delivered a statement saying that, “Walter is creative, resourceful, and committed to excellence, and will bring those qualities to his oversight of our superhero films. He’s a terrific production executive and served as an executive producer on two of the summer’s most popular films, New Line’s It and Annabelle: Creation. I’m confident Walter and Geoff, working with our filmmaking partners, will deliver films that will resonate with both broad global audiences as well as DC fanboys and fangirls. Walter’s a great addition to the Warner Bros. Pictures team, and I look forward to working with him in his new post.”
In echoing Emmerich's enthusiasm for Hamada's appointment to the role of president, Geoff Johns posted the following tweet to his official account:
I sure as hell hope so, Toby, because something is going to have to come along to save the sinking ship that is the S.S. DCU. Despite several of DC's films drawing more than admirable numbers at the box office, many of the titles released by the studio in the past several years have not resonated well with critics and fans alike. While Patty Jenkins WONDER WOMAN was a roaring success with $821.8 million earned worldwide, DC's latest, JUSTICE LEAGUE, has proven to be a major disappointment to the WB with only $651 million worldwide to show for the superhero ensemble event.
Here's hoping that Hamada can turn things around, and help to create a selection of worthwhile movies featuring some of DC's greatest and most iconic heroes!