Actress Gal Gadot and director Patty Jenkins were excited when last month Warner Bros. announced its plan to release the "Wonder Woman 1984" film in theaters and on WarnerMedia's streaming service HBO Max at the same time. Along with that excitement, however, came their requests for a suitable paycheck.
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According to an article in The New York Times, Warner Bros. approached the talent agencies that represent Gadot and Jenkins to recruit the two to support its release plan.
Gadot and Jenkins' argued that if Warner Bros. wanted help in promoting their decision, then they needed to pay the two, as well as others involved in the production of the film, the same way they would have probably been paid had the movie not come out in the middle of a pandemic.
After lengthy negotiations, Warner Bros. agreed to pay Gadot and Jenkins $10 million each, a decision that sparked a fierce debate among other actors whose films also suffered a blow following the coronavirus crisis.
Agencies that represent such leading actors and actresses as Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Keanu Reeves, Angelina Jolie, and Hugh Jackman demanded to know why their clients did not receive the same treatment by HBO as Gadot. The outrage led to the Directors Guild of America to call for a boycott of Warner Bros. Some people have started to refer to the agency as Former Bros.
Warner Bros. CEO Jason Kilar announced last week that seventeen more films would be streamed on HBO in a format similar to "Wonder Woman 1984."
"For the longest time, Warner Bros. has been known as the best home for talent, and that has been a significant competitive advantage," Michael Nathanson, a founder of the MoffettNathanson media research firm, said in an interview to The New York Times. "With this move, they alienated the very talent they have worked so hard to attract. These aren't engineers you can just replace."
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