At Work and Out of the Closet in the Heartland

failure, he says, “spells real trouble.” Warner’s last superhero-driven smash was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, which, according to Box Office Mojo, set an opening-weekend record for the franchise with $160.9 million in ticket sales. The studio’s Harry Potter box-office fortunes have dried up; so, too, have the riches from the Hobbit films. As a result, Warner has fallen far behind Disney and Universal Studios in box-office rankings. In 2015 the two combined commanded about 42 percent of the global box office, compared with only 14 percent for Warner.

After a management shake-up in 2013, Kevin Tsujihara, at the time the head of Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, was named chief executive officer and chairman of Warner Bros. In 2014 he outlined a six-year plan to release at least 10 superhero films from the DC Comics library. The “DC Extended Universe,” along with Lego and at least three Harry Potter prequels, based on works by author J.K. Rowling, are the cornerstones of the studio’s slate over the next four years.

It will have to contend with Disney, which since 2012 has been beating Warner at the superhero franchise game. The Mickey Mouse studio has churned out megahit after megahit, drawing on a seemingly endless stable of Marvel characters, from Iron Man to Captain America. The first of four Avengers movies, released in 2012, was the biggest movie of that year globally.

That’s intensified the pressure on Warner, says Barton Crockett, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets. The studio’s in a “never-ending quest to make DC Comics more like Marvel in terms of commercial success.” DC Comics has been part of the Warner family since the ’60s; Disney bought Marvel in 2010.

Pitting what arguably are the world’s best-known superheroes against each other, Warner is taking some cues from Disney. The new movie features cameos from Wonder Woman and Aquaman, who are scheduled for their own headline features later in the decade. Two Justice League movies will unite Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman with the Flash.

But superheroes may have worn out their welcome, as industry analysts warn of an oversupply. Still, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has said Warner’s profits in 2016 would be led by the studio. “He’s going to have a hard time seeing that happen if this movie doesn’t work,” Crockett says. “It has the potential to be the biggest movie for Warner Bros. all year. And if it doesn’t work, the credibility of the team at Time Warner from Jeff Bewkes on down is going to suffer.” The bottom line will need to gross about $1.15 billion worldwide to be as profitable as Disney’s Marvel movies.

Batman v Superman

Hormel and Eaton are adding policies for LGBT workers

“Once you put a face to an issue, change happens”

When Hormel Foods added gay pride holidays to its 2012 corporate calendar, there was instant pushback, recalls Larry Lyons, senior vice president for human resources. He received angry e-mails objecting to the decision, and several employees confronted him in person to complain. The calendar, he says, led to “some very difficult conversations that needed to happen” and served as a referendum on Hormel’s support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender workers.

It’s common for companies that want to attract younger, more diverse employees, including LGBT workers, to meet such resistance, especially those in the Midwest and the South that aren’t in large urban centers. At the same time, industries from oil and gas to construction are facing greater pressure to adopt more open policies.

“We have a sophisticated, new kind of employee who’s not just looking at what their salary is going to be but at the environment they’re going to be working in every day,” says Sarah Kate Ellis, president and chief executive officer of Glaad, an LGBT advocacy organization. “They want that environment to be inclusive, to be welcoming.” That’s especially true of millennials who’ve left cities like New York and San Francisco because of the high cost of living.

Antigay discrimination is legal in 28 states, representing about 54 percent of workers, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It’s not just the lack of protections that LGBT workers confront; there are 200 bills under consideration in 33 states this year that are considered potentially hostile to gay and transgender people, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which promotes LGBT equality.

Hormel’s calendar was the first sign that wider acceptance would take time, says Lyons, who’s been with the Austin, Minn.-based company for three decades. Some executives questioned the need for the changes after the complaints, but CEO Jeffrey Ettinger quickly reiterated his commitment. The company, maker of Spam and Hormel Chili, was partly motivated by HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, which scores companies in five categories, including insurance benefits and diversity training. The scale is from 0— not meeting any requirements of an inclusive workplace—to 100—the most welcoming. In 2011, Hormel scored 15. Soon after, the company asked employees for feedback on its policies.

This year, a record 407 companies scored 100; 66 of those, including Hormel, TD Ameritrade, Southwest Airlines, and auto parts maker Eaton, Legal Divide States that outlaw employment discrimination based on sexual orientation