Dan Lin to Lead – The Hollywood Reporter

Has the new head of DC has been found?

Dan Lin, the executive-turned-producer who counts hits such as the live-action Aladdin, The Lego Movie, and the It horror movies among his credits, is in talks to take the role of DC chief, multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The role would encompass overseeing not just film but television as well, with Lin reporting directly to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, according to sources.

The proposed structure would bypass three separate division heads  — Warner Bros. Pictures’ heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, HBO/HBO Max chief Casey Bloys, and Warner Bros. TV chair Channing Dungey — and put control of DC in the hands of one person.

Walter Hamada, the current head of DC Films, would transition out of the role, according to sources. A Warners insider says that no negotiations are taking place and no official offer has been made, although other sources say the parties are discussing salary, reporting structure and the future of Lin’s prolific production company, Rideback.

If any deal does close, it would cap off one of the most intense executive searches in recent memory, one that faced scrutiny by rival Hollywood producers and executives as well as DC fans.

Zaslav has said he was searching for Warners’ own version of Kevin Feige, the famed Marvel executive who has steered the rival comic book company’s movie slate, and then later its TV portfolio, transforming it into a multibillion-dollar pop culture juggernaut.

That is a nigh-impossible ask, but it didn’t stop executives’ names from surfacing. Emma Watts proved to be an early contender, while in recent months, names such as Amy Pascal, Matt Tolmach, Sean Bailey and Greg Berlanti were rumored to be taking meetings or pushed by canny agency heads.

Lin’s name appeared late in the game, but he has a champion in Warners adviser Alan Horn, the former Disney chair who ran Warners as president and COO in the aughts. It was during that latter tenure that Lin worked for Horn, starting as a junior exec and rising to senior vp production. He struck on his own as a producer in 2008, but not before shepherding movies such as The Departed and 10,000 BC He also oversaw the infamous and aborted Justice League feature that was to have been directed by George Miller. (The 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike and tax credit complications were factors in its derailing.)

Lin is a respected producer known for his smarts and, in a town full of hype and egos, his willingness to find experts on the fields that are not his forte. He has worked on franchises — the Robert Downey Jr.-starring Sherlock Holmes features, the four Lego movies — as well as the wildly successful two-part adaptation of Stephen King’s It. His résumé ranges from big offerings, such as the billion-dollar-grossing Aladdin, to intimate dramas, such as the Oscar-nominated The Two Popes. He is coming off of the early August release of Universal’s Jo Koy comedy Easter Sunday.

And he also has TV experience, a key factor for the new position. Lin and his company executive produced the…