NEW YORK (AP) — Time Warner is banking on comic book superheroes, a new line of movies from the creator of Harry Potter and Lego franchise sequels to drive its box office numbers higher.
The company’s film studio, Warner Bros., plans to release at least 10 superhero movies over four years from its comic book unit DC Entertainment, beginning with 2016’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Others include “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League Part One” in 2017, “The Flash” and “Aquaman” in 2018 and “Cyborg” and “Green Lantern” in 2020.
It plans to release three Lego sequels after the “The Lego Movie” packed theaters across the country. It will also release three movies written by “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling called “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”
The studio also said it signed a deal to bring TV series “Friends” to video-streaming service Netflix Inc. All 236 episodes of the classic TV show will be available on Netflix Jan. 1, 2015.
Shares of Time Warner Inc. rose $1.01, or 1.4 percent, to $71.65 in afternoon trading Wednesday even as the broad market indicator sold off sharply.
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