Warner Bros. is aiming to cut production costs by reducing the number of movies it turns out annually by 26 percent -- from 27 movies per year in 2008 to 20 ASAP, Jeff Robinov, president of Warner's motion picture group, has told the London Financial Times . The studio has already reduced the number of films it produces annually 19 percent to 22. The cutback comes at a time when the studio is losing its most reliable blockbuster -- the Harry Potter franchise, placing additional pressure on it to succeed with fewer films. "Our plan is to expand our event movies," Robinov told the FT . We think it will take two movies to replace -- if replace is the right word -- the loss of Harry Potter on an economic basis." He indicated that the studio is betting that this year the two movies will be The Dark Knight Rises in July and The Hobbit in December.

05/03/2012