May 7, 2021

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Volume 8, Issue 12

DailyPlanetDC.com

Reporting on the Planet Daily

May 7, 2021

@DailyPlanetDC

SUPERMAN AMID RACIAL CONTROVERSY DC fandom reacts to Black Superman amid

Tracking the Snyder Cut on HBO Max – A breakdown of the muddy data around streaming analytics

racial controversy

By Clark Joe W. Daily Planet Reporter

By Zack Benz Daily Planet Editor-in-chief On Thursday April 22, 2021, AT&T reported its Q1 2021 earnings report, fully unveiling the subscribership growth of the HBO Max streaming service, as well as other key metrics for stockholders. This AT&T Earnings Conference Call led to a burst of articles trying to make narratives around these streaming numbers and comparing the Snyder Cut to different Q1 releases such as “Godzilla vs. Kong.” For instance, Sarah Whitten of CNBC initially reported that the Snyder Cut did not draw enough subscriptions and later substantially modi ed the article about these numbers with a more neutral headline and positive tone in the article, but Scott Mendelson of Forbes and Graeme Guttmann of ScreenRant had already followed the earlier narrative while sourcing CNBC. Meanwhile, Todd Spangler of Variety was more even-handed in reporting that HBO Max gained 2.7 million subscribers in the rst three months of 2021 thanks to “Godzilla vs. Kong” and “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.” All of these headlines tend to have causal statements about how some particular content, namely “Zack Snyder Justice League”, caused small/big numbers of subscribers into HBO Max. Since my background is teaching causal inference in economics and nance for a living,

According to a new article by The Hollywood Reporter (THR), insiders say Warner Bros. and DC are committed to hiring a Black director to tackle what will be the rst cinematic incarnation of a Black Superman. However, instead of pulling a Black Superman forth from the comics (Calvin Ellis, Val-Zod), they will be reportedly rebooting the Superman franchise with a Black Kal-El. According to THR, the Superman lm appears to be moving onto its own track and won’t be a part of the DC Extended Universe, for now. Warner is crafting a KalEl in the vein of the original Superman comics and will have the protagonist hail from Krypton. After bringing in Ta-Nehisi Coates to write the latest feature on the Man of Steel, studio heads continue searching for its director and star. The story is currently under construction and many details are likely to change. One option reportedly under continued consideration is for the lm to be a 20th century period piece. Warner Bros. stated that their main objective in DC movie making going forward is diversity and representation. Critics have pointed out that this contradicts what the movie and TV mogul has shown through actions in the past. Ray Fisher, Cyborg in “Justice League,” saw a majority of his scenes diminished and/or cut from the theatrical version of the lm, along with every other person of color. He’s been a strong advocate for holding companies accountable and coined the popular social media phrase “Accountability [over] Entertainment.” “I usually have to tweet before WB will release this kind of performative info,” Fisher said. "Notice how NO ONE from the studio wanted their name on the piece? Hiring more Black people doesn’t negate or erase the terrible way you’ve treated your Black employees. Just apologize.” Destiny Ricks, a frequent contributor to the Daily Planet who produces videos reviewing pop culture topics ranging over a vast variety of companies, also had opinions on the matter. “I'm so f***ing tired of black people being used to peddle this facade of diversity with studios. I'm sure other POC can relate,” Destiny tweeted. “Especially when that studio won't even ACKNOWLEDGE the racist behavior perpetuated under their watch. F**k WB.” Another Daily Planet team m e m b e r, B ro o k s , a l s o h a d thoughts. “The thing that is annoying with the whole Black Superman thing is this is just to de ect from Ray Fisher rather than anything genuine,” Brooks said. Other fans stated the timing of such an announcement, after WB faces numerous racist accusations, is highly suspect. “The timing of this, after Geoff Johns allegedly said Superman couldn't have a Black grandfather and Ray Fisher shared his experience on Whedon's Justice League, all seems a bit sus,” critic and writer Hanna Ines Flint said.

DC Fandome: What to expect and what to hope for By Ben Brown Daily Planet Contributor

DC Comics has recently announced that its virtual con is coming back for its second year to celebrate, inform and discuss all things DC with the fans. The virtual con arose last year to help ll the hole left by a canceled San Diego Comic-Con due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and is back again for its sophomore year Oct. 16, 2021. Below we’ll take a look at the biggest panels and showcases to expect to see under the FanDome and a few we can only hope will make an appearance. ————— Expect – Black Adam Filming of the “Black Adam” movie is nally underway, with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson starring as the slave-turned-antihero himself. Earlier this year, in a very on-brand and over the top fashion, Johnson took over New

CW’s ‘Superman and Lois’ returns May 18

————— HBO Max numbers HBO and HBO Max subscribers went up to 44.2 million in Q1 2021. This implied a growth in subscriptions of 6.5% compared to Q4 2020, and an annual growth of 33.5 percent when compared to Q1 in 2020. One can do a ner breakdown of these numbers with more detail and also compare it to the performance from other streaming platforms. In fact, Luiz Fernando on twitter analyzed this breakdown against competitors and also differentiated between subscribers who upgraded to HBO Max, HBO Max retail subscribers, HBO subscribers in the US, HBO subscribers overseas, and total domestic and global combined HBO and HBO Max subscribers. ——————-See HBO on page 4

York City’s Times Square billboards to reveal that the movie of cially has a release date of July 29, 2022. The lm centers around a slave from the ctional country of Kahndaq, who is granted powerful superpowers that even rival those of Superman’s. The AntiHero will have run-ins with those in the Justice Society and several others from the DC Comics library of superheroes. Given the production schedule for this lm, DC Fandome falls perfectly in the timeframe for the rst trailer to be revealed. If there’s one thing you can count on at this event, it’s that The Rock will be hyping this movie up in full force and telling you all about how the hierarchy of power in the DC universe is about to change. ————— Expect – The Batman Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” was the center of attention at last year’s Fandome event. The

Fans continue to rally for the restoration of the Snyderverse

showcase included a short discussion with the director himself, a small blurb from Robert Pattinson, who stars as the caped crusader, and the lm’s rst trailer. Overall, the showcase gave fans quite a good amount, the batmobile was shown in all its glory, the rst good look at Pattinson in the Bat-suit, and we got a good grasp of the plot and tone of the lm. I think it’s fair to say it was the highlight of the entire Con for a lot of people. The movie was initially supposed to be released in 2021 but due to the pandemic, has since been pushed back to March 4, 2022. This puts it in a perfect timeframe for another trailer to be revealed, showing more of Batman in action but also possibly more of the side characters of the movie. We have yet to see Andy Serkis’ Alfred and have only had brief looks at Zoe Kravits’ Catwoman. This could be a good opportunity to esh out these characters along with Paul Dano’s Riddler, ———- See DC FanDome page 3

Mother’s Day: What the holiday

means when they’ve passed By Zack Benz Daily Planet Editor-in-chief

This Mother’s Day I urge people to call their moms, their dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, sisters, whomever stood by your side reveling in your achievements as you age. Family is one of the most important things in this universe. They help build your character, teach you things of great importance and love you when you sometimes feel undeserving. Family can mean many things. They can be a group of humans t h a t s h a re t h e s a m e D N A , branched from an ancestry that reaches back generations. They can be a group of friends who have a common bond and know their connections will last forever. Whatever the de nition or speci cs, family is important. It’s been over a year since moving back home to spend time with, and care for, my grandmother Grace. I took an opportunity to travel back home after quarantining when Minnesota went into lockdown at the dawn

of the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. I loved spending that time with my grandma. I thank God for that opportunity every day because I understood how lucky I was to have those moments with her. As Mother’s Day approaches, I nd myself re ecting on those I lost within the past ve years yet again. It’s been nearly ve years since my grandfather, my father gure growing up, died of cancer. This Mother’s Day weekend will mark four years since my mom died of an accidental overdose. Now, come June, it will be a year since I lost my grandma. It’s a strange sensation understanding that you’re entirely alone without parental gures to celebrate this year. I’ve lost a lot since they all three died. I never knew who my father was, but my grandpa who helped raise me ensured I’d never feel like I was without one. My grandmother played the role of strict, yet caring mother alongside him. My mother did her best and taught me how to accept myself and grow into who I wanted to be. ——————-See mom on page 3

————————————————————————————Contents– The Daily Planet branding, art direction and overall design was drafted by Karli Kruse. Except as noted, all books, titles, characters, character names, slogans, logos and related indicia are trademarks and copyright of DC Comics and/or WildStorm Productions, an imprint of DC Comics. We are not paid for, sponsored by, or af liated with DC Comics or Warner Brothers. The Daily Planet logo was originally designed by Jason Sweers. The DC logo is a trademark of DC Comics.

The Dailies | Page 2 Superman, the world’s greatest heroes | Page 2 ‘Mad Cave’ | Page 3

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DailyPlanetDC.com

especially concentrating in analyzing nance data, I felt compelled to discuss some of these headlines and whether these are causal statements that we can make, in particular with the data we have publicly available. There are two particular points we can discuss that emanate from these articles. First, was the number of new subscribers into HBO Max small or big during Q1 2021? Second, can we link these numbers exclusively to some particular content?

Warner Bros. promising more diversity with their upcoming Superman project garnered criticism from actors and fans alike. Val-Zod / Superman as he appears in DC Comics.

Read colorized versions of the Justice League story boards

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MAD CAVE STUDIOS’ ‘BECSTAR’ MAKES ITS INTERGALACTIC DEBUT P3


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