[Keith]

deadline.com 

Is anyone with business acumen able to explain how these things work? What is the 'tax benefit' of writing off a whole movie that is basically finished and ready to go?

It's a move that in my opinion only benefits accountants, WBD's directors and shareholders.

According to that article it rated well against its target audience, so presumably was unlikely to bomb. Equally other streaming services were apparently interested in acquiring the film, so again they'd be unlikely to have lost all/most of the $30M apparently spent on the film.

It would be more understandable if the film had scored poorly in internal tests, or if it was only part-way through production. To axe a reportedly well-scoring completed film that other streaming services are interested in seems like accounting madness. Still a large tax write-off may help boost profits, which in turn can increase director remunerations and shareholder dividends.