Amazon Teams Up with Discovery for New Animated DC Projects

Warner Bros., Discovery’s television-focused production arm, partnered with Amazon Studios to develop new animated projects based on DC Comics’ IP.

Warner Bros. Television Studios chair Channing Dungey opened up about collaborating with outside production outfits as one of the major reasons why.

Unlike the old guard who felt like “everything has to stay in the house, we don’t want anything to go outside,” Dungey said that CEO David Zaslav has been far keener on the idea of working with others and getting the studio’s content onto platforms it doesn’t own outright.

“David Zaslav has been much more open to our exploring all of our animated IP and being able to do it on different platforms,” Dungey said. “Certainly HBO Max is going to be our first stop but we’re already in the process of closing a big deal with Amazon that’s going to feature some of our DC-branded content in animation.”

Although Dungey did not provide further details about the partnership, Zaslav stressed his desire to double down on existing IP like Superman. Zaslav also affirmed that he’s interested in returning to the world of Harry Potter to cash in on the franchise’s still-extant popularity, a sentiment Dungey echoed and said that the studio is currently having “a number of different conversations about.”

“Our unscripted team did a fantastic ‘Return to Hogwarts’ special for HBO last year, that resonated so tremendously, then we did a quiz show, ‘The Tournament of Houses,’ that Helen Mirren was the host for. The audience is ready, they want to go, so we’re just to figure out what the right next step is.”