The Warner Bros film executive in charge of production on the studios DC superhero films is stepping down after the under-performance of Justice League.
Jon Berg, co-president of production at Warner Bros Pictures, will leave his post at the studio to become a producer with filmmaker Roy Lee, who has backed successful movies for the studio including It and The Lego Movie, reports variety.com.
Berg, who was the producer on Justice League, has been an executive at the studio for about a decade. Toby Emmerich, President of Warner Bros Pictures Group, says it was Berg’s decision to step down.
“This is something that Jon approached me about six months ago and he expressed his goal was to ultimately be a producer at the studio. We are thrilled that Jon is partnering with Roy and anticipate their company being a valuable source of movies for Warner Bros and New Line,” Emmerich said in a statement.
Emmerich, the former head of New Line Cinema, a year ago replaced Greg Silverman to improve the performance of Warner’s movie studio.
The latest change is expected to take effect early next year. No replacement has been named yet.
Recent DC movies, including Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad also suffered unfavourable comparisons to their Marvel counterparts. Critics have hit out at them for their dark and gloomy tones.
Justice League featured Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, cost an estimated $300 million to produce.
The next live-action superhero movie for Warner Bros is Aquaman, which is directed by James Wan and is scheduled for release in next December.