DC Comics will stay in New York; DC Entertainment comes to L.A.
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The moviemaking, online and digital publishing arms of DC Entertainment, are coming to Los Angeles to be close to parent company Warner Bros., it was announced Tuesday. DC Comics, the traditional comic book publisher, will remain in New York.
Yes, that’s four arms, but we’re talking comics here.
Our sibling blog Company Town reports that the changes have been under consideration since Diane Nelson was named president of DC last September.
DC’s non-comic-book production efforts, including film and television properties being developed at the studio, will be overseen by Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns. L.A.-based co-publisher Jim Lee will oversee publishing on new digital platforms such as the iPad and co-publisher Dan DiDio will run the comic book operation out of New York. About 20% of DC’s roughly 250 staffers will lose their jobs as part of the shift, while some others will move to the West Coast from the East. In addition, certain new positions are being added in Burbank.
The website Comics Alliance, which had been tracking rumors of possible changes at DC, writes that many believed that a total shift to L.A. ‘would disturb, perhaps very harmfully, the corporate culture of DC Comics and the comic book industry in general.’ But it continues that the plan announced Tuesday -- to split the operations between the East Coast and West Coast -- ‘seems to be the best of both worlds.’
DC’s multimedia production will relocate to Burbank. The next big DC comic-to-screen project is ‘Green Lantern,’ starring Ryan Reynolds, slated for release in June 2011.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
