DC Comics Will Be Flying Out Of Gotham And Setting Up Shop In LA
Batman may still be the hero that Gotham doesn't deserve, but his overlords at DC Comics will be packing up shop after 70 years in New York City, in search of honor, morality, and box office profits in Los Angeles.
According to a report from Comic Book Resources, DC Comics—the home of Batman, Superman, and the rest of The Justice League, among other superheroes—will be moving its home base to the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, where their production company, DC Entertainment, is already located.
The move, which will take place over the course of 2014, signals a strong shift for DC away from focusing on traditional publishing to concentrate solely on entertainment. DC's digital and administrative departments moved to Burbank in 2010, and after high-profile successes like The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises (as well as some failures, such as Jonah Hex), it seems that the company wants to put all its eggs in Warner Brothers basket—the studio where DC has a first-look deal. All 100 New York-based employees were offered the opportunity to move.
Back when digital and admin moved to L.A. in 2010, president Diane Nelson stated that editorial would remain firmly put on the East Coast, stating "We’re doing this to protect the legacy of what made the New York DC Comics operation great in the past, which is, again, inclusive of but not limited to the culture of publishing in New York, the creative relationships with people who live and work here." Apparently, given the trade off of box office profits, that mandate no longer stands.