Movies

Warner Bros. finds new president for DC Films

by Daniel Klissmman

Warner Bros. found its new president of DC Films, Walter Hamada.

Justice League‘s financial and critical disappointment prompted a shift in the DC Extended Universe. Back in December of 2017, it was revealed that Jon Berg would be stepping down as DC Films’ president. Now, Warner Bros. has found the person who’ll spearhead the DCEU moving forward.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, former New Line executive Walter Hamada has been hired as the new president of DC Films. The producer has been an important asset in Warner Bros. for some time. He helped bring to life The Conjuring franchise and Andy Muschietti’s It, which earned over $600 million at the global box office.

In a statement released through THR, WB’s president, Toby Emmerich, expressed his excitement over Hamada’s hiring:

“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.”

As Emmerich mentioned, Hamada will be working alongside DC Entertainment’s chief creative officer, Geoff Johns, for future DC films. Johns himself took to Twitter shortly after the announcement to welcome Hamada to the team:

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop for the DCEU under Hamada’s leadership. Fortunately, Warner Bros. seems to be quite confident in him. Variety, for example, is reporting that his hiring is an effort to improve the quality of DC films. Furthermore, THR revealed that Hamada impressed Emmerich with his work on next year’s Shazam!

Taking those aspects (as well as the executive’s solid track record) into account, things are looking better for the DCEU.

The latest installment in the DC Extended Universe, Aquaman, will swim into theaters on December 21, 2018.